AN AMBITIOUS young farmer thought he was seeing double when a sheep gave birth to a second lamb – six weeks after she delivered her first.

A double birth separated by several weeks is a relatively rare occurrence in the sheep world and nine-year-old Joshua Thompson said he was delighted with the unexpected arrival.

He said: “It came out of nowhere, it was amazing!”

Joshua, who lives in Bolam near Darlington, is a keen aspiring farmer and already owned dozens of chickens before his parents bought him two black Welsh Mountain ewes for Christmas.

One of them died and it was her replacement, Ivy, who gave birth to her second lamb on Friday.

Joshua named the first lamb Daisy and the newest arrival Poppy.

“The sheep are very important to me,” he said, “I like both the chickens and the sheep the same and I enjoy the work that goes into them.”

Joshua’s mum, Helen, said she is proud of the effort her son puts in to his animals and said he showed the same determination as a young child overcoming medical problems.

Joshua was born before his twin sister, Eleanor, who sadly died during a complicated birth and Mrs Thompson said: “Josh fought for his life for a couple of years.

“He has moved on now and is a determined little boy; when he sets his mind to something he makes it happen.”

Mrs Thompson joked that Joshua’s best friend, Oliver Dennis, was his “farmer in crime” and that there was some friendly rivalry between the youngsters who are keen to get into showing their sheep.

“They are so serious about wanting to be farmers, there is competition going on,” she said.

“Oliver has a cow that has had two calves, so maybe that is what Josh will want next – we’ll have to find a really small cow!”

The family do not know the medical reason behind lvy’s unexpected second birth, but Joshua’s grandfather Alan Moore said that farmers he has spoken to believe it is caused when a ewe’s womb splits in two, enabling her to conceive twice in one season.

“We’ve been told it’s quite a rare thing to happen,” he said.