Sheep roaming the Downs: Why sheep help us keep our green space!

National World - LocalTV

It’s more than symbolic. It’s about keeping these one hundred and twenty-two acres safe from development, protected as public land—and alive with wildlife. Once upon a time, hundreds of sheep grazed here, and there was even a full-time shepherd

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00:00It's the Year of the Sheep and yet it's still a bit of a surprise to see real sheep munching

00:10their way across the Downs in Bristol. But this isn't just a fluffy stunt, this is history

00:16in action. Thanks to an Act of Parliament from 1861, 13 commoners, including the University

00:23of Bristol, still have the right to graze sheep here on Durden Downs. And they must

00:29do it at least once every five years, or they could risk losing the right forever.

00:33It's an amazing, joyous occasion actually. So it goes back to 1861 when there was a covenant

00:40which said that sheep could come on the Downs and graze. And so this happens every five years

00:46in order to keep that covenant going.

00:48Virgin Venturers and the City Council, collectively, together, they own the Downs, about 440 acres.

00:53And in 1861, under the Act of Parliament, they agreed that they would manage the Downs together,

01:0050-50 through the Downs Committee, to the benefit of the people of Bristol.

01:04It's more than symbolic. It's about keeping these 122 acres safe from development, protected

01:12as public land and alive with wildlife. Once upon a time, hundreds of sheep grazed here

01:17and there was even a full-time shepherd until 1925.

01:23If you don't exercise the right, you lose the right. And as Lord Mayor of Bristol, I

01:27have the pleasure of chairing the Downs Committee, which has responsibility for the management

01:32of the Downs. So over, of course, the next 12 months during my term, I very much look forward

01:37to helping to, you know, continue to protect the Downs and seeing what work we can do.

01:43Today, it's not just sheep returning to the Downs, but a small army of eco-warriors in

01:48school uniform. When the sheep disappeared nearly a century ago, some did some of the

01:54region's scarier species. Now, with a little help from goats, schoolchildren and the odd

01:59historic law, we're bringing that balance back.

02:03Really, as I said, it's impractical to have sheep on the Downs, free-ranging. It has been

02:07for the last 100 years. I believe, in fact, in 1925, so 100 years ago, they employed a full-time

02:13shepherd. But on a practical basis, with a motor car and lack of fencing, it's probably

02:18not practical. So today, I bought eight hopefully very well behaved sheep. Actually, also as

02:25an educational exercise for some of the local children around here to come and look.

02:28So I am here sat with some of these gorgeous black sheep who are populating the Downs for

02:34the day, as per the tradition. Let's chat to some of these specialists to find out more.

02:40The ones without horns are girls, and the ones with little horns are the boys.

02:45Well, they have, like, this fluffy thing that, and it feels like a cloud, and it's really fluffy.

02:53They're really fluffy, and they're really cute.

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