MEET Nerissa, the newborn alpaca and her mother, Honeysuckle.

Readers might be familiar with the sight of lambs gambolling in the spring sunshine, but these charming characters are the latest arrivals to the North Yorkshire farming scene.

They live at Crambe Grange, at the foot of the Howardian Hills, near Malton.

Alpacas have been bred for thousands of years in the South Amercian Andes for their supersoft fleeces.

Now, they are becoming an increasingly common sight in Britain, with an estimated 30,000 being reared here.

The 70 Fowberry alpacas are being looked after by Graham and Jenny MacHarg.

Nerissa, who was born prematurely, is wearing a high visibility jacket to keep her warm and so she can be picked out from the herd.