Water workers rescue lamb at Spring Mill reservoir

Andrew George lifted the lamb to safety and reunited it with its mother

A lamb got in a bit of bother after getting stuck in a disused water tank near Whitworth before United Utilities staff working at Spring Mill reservoir came to the rescue.

Ground maintenance workers heard the cries of the lamb’s anxious mother and plucked the lucky lamb to safety.

Andrew George was mowing the grass on the dam’s huge embankment when he spotted the pair and went to investigate.

“It had got into one of the three dry water filter tanks and was jumping up and down trying to get out with its mother walking around at the top, clearly upset. Although there were earth ramps in the tanks, the drop was still too big for the lamb to get out. I jumped in and managed to corner it and lift it back out,” he said.

The drama was captured on camera by Martin Gregson, a colleague working separately some distance away.

Tempted by lush grass, the youngster and its mother appear to have breached a fenced off area below the dam and somehow strayed into one of three dry water filter tanks on site.

Although up to six feet deep, the tanks are well-drained and dry and the earth ramps would have been easy for an adult hill sheep to get in and out. Not so easy for a small lamb.

“I think the farmer would have been round before too long and would probably have spotted the problem and sorted it out. But I couldn’t just leave it. It looked tired and hungry. It ran straight across to its mother and started to feed,” said Andrew.