Some of the smallest residents at Auchingarrich Wildlife Park are getting an extra layer this spring, thanks to volunteers with knitting needles.

Photos released by the park show orphaned lambs wearing hand-knitted sweaters made to help keep them warm.

Each year, the UK Wildlife Park adopts a number of lambs from farms, often when a ewe has a larger litter than expected or when she dies.

When a mother gives birth to three or four lambs, the weaker babies can struggle to get milk and need to be bottle-fed five times a day.

A staff member at Auchingarrich Wildlife Park said, “A ewe is only able to feed two lambs at a time, so when they have three or four, the weaker ones struggle to get sufficient milk.

“They become ‘pets or bottle babies’ meaning someone has to feed them every couple of hours, a task not relished by farmers at this time of year.

“We help by taking these cute cabe lambs and feeding them five feeds from six in the morning until 10 o’clock at night, every day. When a lamb gets cold outside, the mother’s milk will help warm it.”

“Our lambs don’t have this option, so to help keep them warm, we put them in little jumpers. We are often short of jumpers so we have a knit and natter group each Wednesday where we offer bottomless tea or coffee for anyone making jumpers for our little lambs.”

Volunteers meet each week throughout the spring to knit sweaters for the lambs as they grow.

So far this year, the group has made two blue sweaters for 5-day-old Miss Chief and Menace, and a Union Jack sweater for 2-day-old Jackie.

The staff member says, “Jackie is a fabulous Cheviot X, known for those large sticky-up ears. She’s a particular favorite of ours.”

The park also offers daily lamb-feeding sessions, where visitors can help bottle-feed the babies.