Edges Green, north of Cawfields

Northumbria Police activated Mountain Rescue last night following a request for assistance from the farmer at Edges Green, north of Hadrian's Wall. One of the farmer’s ewes that had recently lambed was stuck in a precarious location, two metres down from the lip of a crag on a very small ledge and above a 16 metre vertical drop.

Following a discussion with the farmer, it was agreed that a limited number of our volunteers would be deployed to assess the situation and determine whether we could assist.

Cutting a long story short having arrived on scene, we decided to give the rescue a go. Our 4x4 response vehicle, Curlew Echo, was positioned at the top of the crag as an unquestionably sound anchor and a rope rescue system was rigged. One of our ‘sheep whispering’ rescuers was then carefully lowered over the edge of the crag to try to secure the ewe. With the sheep secured, she and our rescuer were successfully lowered to the foot of the crag.

After the mandatory photo, the ewe and her lamb were reunited.

The farmer and his family were very appreciative and we were rewarded with a cup of tea and cake in the farmhouse!

While the rescue itself took just over an hour from rigging to de-rigging the rope rescue system, it took a couple of hours to clean all of our kit earlier today!

The incident involved 6 Team members for 5 hours 10 minutes.