Sheep stuck for days on rockface no woolly jumper

Climbers have rescued a sheep from a high ledge at a quarry with the help of a large bag as crowds watched below.

Lewis Sunderland, Dan Carter and Molly Howells from Bridgnorth decided to help after learning the animal was not a woolly jumper and had instead been stranded on high for more than three days.

They climbed up the rockface at Clee Hill and were able to bring down the sheep, nicknamed Flossy, from her perch 20m above the ground.

The trio are members of a climbing group in Shrewsbury and Carter said: "We figured 'that's not far too from us, we'll just go and check it out' and found the poor thing there."

He said the ledge was "tiny" and the sheep "had next to no room to move about and there was just crumbling rock and mud left, right and centre".

Carter added that he and Sunderland, who are both web developers, agreed to climb up on either side of the animal, just in case it ran.

Sunderland said Howells, his partner, kept pet sheep and "knows sheep better than any of us", so she went as back up and to offer advice.

But when they reached Flossy they found she was not easy to rescue.

Sunderland said: "I think we underestimated how flighty she'd be.

"We both hoped she'd be more scared of the fall than us."

Carter said he made an unsuccessful attempt to grab her leg and Sunderland made "the catch of the century" to secure her.

They then put her into a large bag which they borrowed from a farmer and lowered themselves back down to safety.

By that time a crowd had gathered to watch, but Sunderland said he had not noticed while he was up on the cliff face.

Afterwards, Carter said: "I think we both turned to each other and said 'shall we go to the pub'?"

But instead they met the farmer who owned Flossy and Carter said he had been "quite emotional".

Sunderland said the farmer's family had been "incredibly appreciative" and they spent over an hour with them afterwards, sharing a cup of tea and a chat.

The rescuers said they had no idea how the sheep had become stuck on the cliff, but after photographs were taken, she bounded off to join the rest of the flock, near the top.

Sunderland said the farmer had promised to send them updates on Flossy in the future.

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