Sheep, they lead, we follow.
Written by John MacphersonLairg Lamb Sale is an event I’ve mentioned before on duckrabbit. No apologies for posting some more images. I love it.
If you like ‘atmosphere’ Lairg is hard to beat. The smell of sheep predominates, and their incessant bleating competing with the non-stop calling of the auctioneers, mixed with the buzz of conversation between the hill-farmers is a heady concoction.
It starts at dawn, and ends at dusk. It is the largest single-day sheep sale in Europe and on occasion up to 30,000 animals may pass through the ring. It is about sheep, and it also about people. About meeting old friends and acquaintances and swapping tales of the year past.
Fancy going? Well just fetch up, walk in and enjoy!
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Lairg Lamb Sale, Sutherland © John MacPherson
Author — John Macpherson
John MacPherson was born and lives in the Scottish Highlands. He trained as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards, before completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and then qualified as a Social Worker in Disability Services. Along the way he has cooked on canal barges, trained as an Alpine Ski Leader & worked as an Instructor for Skiers with disabilities, been a canoe instructor, and tutor of night classes in carpentry, stained glass design and manufacture, and archery. He has travelled extensively on various continents, undertaking solo trips by bicycle, or motorcycle. He has had narrow escapes from an ambush by terrorists, been hit by lightning, caught in an erupting volcano, trapped in a mobile home by a tornado, kidnapped by a dog's hairdresser, rammed by a basking shark and was once bitten by a wild otter. He has combined all this with professional photography, which he has practised for over 35 years. He teaches photography and acts as a photography guide & tutor in the UK and abroad. His biggest challenge is keeping his 30 year old Land Rover 110 on the road. He loves telling and hearing stories.