THE sight of new-born lambs gambolling in a field is usually a sign spring is here.

So imagine Jude Beveridge and son Finn’s surprise when they found a lamb wandering on a road at Sowerby Row – more than four months early.

Even more astonishing was that further investigation revealed not just one winter lamb, but four.

Making the situation even more bizarre was the fact the farmer had only just put his tup in with the flock of sheep. November is mating season for lambs born next spring.

The lambing season runs between February and April, and experts say ewes giving birth in November is virtually unheard of.

The local farmer – who does not want to be named – said he did not even realise any of his commercial Texel cross sheep were pregnant.

“I can offer no explanation,” he said. “One of the sheep had a single lamb, and the other had triplets.

“We had to take one of the three away as the mother was rejecting it, which isn’t uncommon. The tup had only just been in the field. For these sheep to give birth now, they must have been mated five months ago.”

Jude, who lives at Sowerby Row, said she was taking Finn, six, to the nearby school at Calthwaite when a lamb ran in front of the car and disappeared into a hedge.

“I was worried it would run onto the main Wigton to Penrith road and be killed, so I pushed through some brambles,” she explained.

“It was stuck in the beck so I had to drag it out.

“The beck was flooded, but I didn’t think, I just jumped in and rescued it. When I think it could have drowned. It certainly could not have survived the weather that day.”

Neighbouring farmers Sandra and Jonathan Stalker said they were “amazed” when Jude turned up and said she had a lamb in her car.

“When we looked there was the lamb, still with its cord on, with the little boy cuddling it,” recalled Sandra.

Alistair Couper, a vet with Capontree Veterinary Practice, said while it was not a “miracle” birth, but said a lamb born in November was unusual.

He said: “There must have been a tup near these ewes at the height of summer, but I would not expect a ewe to go to a tup at that time of year.”