Pregnant Sheep Dies After Easter Crowds Block Access to Saddleworth Fields

A pregnant sheep has died after hundreds of visitors clogged roads and blocked field entrances at Dovestone reservoir during the Easter weekend, preventing farmers from reaching their flock.

The car parks at the Greenfield beauty spot overflowed on Sunday as drivers double-parked on access roads and blocked entrances to fields where pregnant sheep had gathered for lambing season.

Angela Crowther, whose sheep was found dead Monday morning, said visitors had parked “all over the place” including across field entrances. “We simply couldn’t drive into field to check the conditions of our pregnant flocks,” she said. “It was very worrying. We couldn’t get into our field for cars and we are lambing. The consequence this morning is a dead ewe who died lambing. We have logged it with the police.”

Crowther described the situation as “heart-breaking, so sad and so unnecessary,” noting that farmers couldn’t check their flocks overnight. “The driver was nowhere to be seen,” she added. “And visitors forget to close gates leaving mothers and their lambs to wander all over the place. It’s frightening.”

Oldham Councillor Helen Bishop, who has highlighted problems at the site for years, said she has “been consistently pushing OMBC and UU to do more to resolve the issues at Dovestones.” She told the council: “If Oldham are incapable of managing it effectively, as well as insisting on continuing to promote it on their social media, then maybe it is time that they handed the management of the car park to someone who can use the six figure sum it raises to actually re-invest in the infrastructure.”

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