I really enjoyed my visit to my ponies at the Hook Reserve today, meeting up with Jayne who has a very long badge within the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Without even knowing it, she has been responsible for a seismic and positive shift in my mental health, offering me as the right owner with the right ponies in the right place, the opportunity to turn my ponies out on such a large, and ostensibly wild, site. For me it is a joy to see my ponies thriving in this environment which, despite the fact that it is surrounded by fast roads, feels so isolated. It is rare to see more than a handful of other people on the reserve, and all of them are people who are in love with nature. A lot of them look out for my ponies and would get in touch with the Trust if there were any problems. I hope the ponies can get through their first year without any issues and this will give me a good indication of how they will fare although we did have some pretty weird weather.
When I arrived, the ponies were already at the gate, seemingly waiting for something to happen, so I was slightly worried that someone has been feeding them, especially when they were still in the same place two hours later - you know how ponies will sacrifice many hours eating time on the promise of one carrot. I have asked the Lookers to look out for anyone who may be giving them titbits even though it is forbidden by the Trust.
Jayne and I went on to check the cattle who were all present and correct. They will be leaving the site soon as their part in restoring it is over and there is a risk that they will poach the ground and reduce the grazing available to the ponies. The grazing may look beige but there are plenty of green shoots insulated by the leaves, and lots to browse upon above ground level. This gorse bush may have been over-optimistic:
I have visited the ponies over thirty times since they arrived at the Reserve and although heavily reliant on the Grazing Team and the Lookers to check them the rest of the time, I always make a day of it when I go up - litter picking in and around the site as a way of saying thank you to Jayne and the Trust. Generally the laybys are much cleaner most of the time but it is disappointed to find fly-tips that I have no hope of removing. Fortunately I now have a contact at the Council who, like me, believes that it is essential to remove rubbish before it becomes a magnet for other stuff. The tip would not have charged for this:
I'll close with this glorious picture of an Exmoor at Greywell which was sent to me over Christmas.
