SEEING lambs bouncing across frosty fields is usually one of the first signs that spring has finally sprung on Cumbria's green and pleasant land.

Although spring is still some way off, lambing is underway on some of the county's farms.

There are around 32 million sheep looked after by farmers here in the UK. Traditionally, lambing starts in early spring but some farmers can start in December while others in the uplands in April.

Pictured are lambing helpers Sarah Horsley and Alice Beattie holding four Suffolk cross lambs born on Tuesday, January 12 at Ellerslea at Dalston.

The farm has a mixture of 1,394 Suffolk, Texel, Beltex and Mule ewes to lamb between now and the end of April.