Sheep festival kicks off in North Ronaldsay

The very first North Ronaldsay Sheep festival begins today.

The island will be hosting a variety of events, with an art exhibition, film screenings, social events, live music and more taking place across two weeks.

The festival has seen volunteers invited to help with two of the residents’ most important annual duties — the repair of the sheep-dyke and clipping of the island’s unique sea-weed eating sheep with old fashioned hand-shears.

Today, the opening day of the festival, will see the opening of a pop-up art exhibition at the The Manse and an open music session at the Observatory Bar, at the bird observatory.

The first week of the festival will focus on the repair of the sheep-dyke, with sheep clipping taking place over the second week, from Monday, August 1 to Thursday, August 4.

For more information and a full schedule of the events visit www.nrsheepfestival.com