I am getting better at this mid-wifery caper.

The last one was again a big lamb, not progressing. Same process, catch the mother and help extract the lamb.

But this time I moved her first to a sunny spot, out of the sheltered, but freezing cold, frosty gully she had hidden in. That way the lamb would be in the sun when it popped out, rather than spending the first hour in a frost shadow.

And this time when the lamb was out and I'd seen it breathing, i immediately moved it to be lying in front of the mother. She opened her eyes, sniffed her lamb and started cleaning it, ignoring me completely. By the time I walked away they'd bonded and everything looked ok. Much easier.....!

We are still seeing lambs die in the cold though. If they are unlucky enough to be born just as its sleeting down, or hailing, as it was last night, they get chilled before they get to their feet and quickly shut down. Two more this week, one a new born, the other a few days old but still little. Its very sad

If the dead lamb is a twin the mother quickly focuses on the remaining lamb, but the single-birth mothers grieve for their dead lamb.The behavior varies...it can be relentlessly walking around calling and listening for a response. Other lambs call back and the bereaved mother gets a false hope, eventually locates the pretender, then goes back to calling.

The black sheep who lost her lamb this morning has been frantically running from corner to corner calling, but visually searching for her lamb. Both are quite heart-breaking to watch.

Proper farmers tell me to expect 10% mortality during lambing season, and I've always been quietly chuffed that we are usually way under that. This year we have almost hit the 25% mark.

Three more days of Antarctic weather to come.....