No Reservations

The ponies could have been forgiven for thinking that they had moved to a hot foreign country. Ever since they arrived at the reserve they have been forced by the heat and the insects to take cover under the trees and wait for evening to come. Today it was much cooler and there was a fresh breeze rustling the long grasses and silver birch leaves. This made it much harder to find them. 

Nelly, Blue and Jack were coming back from the water trough but Patsy and Pie were nowhere to be seen until I followed their neighs.

When they decided to rush over to be reunited, the cows thought that would be fun too. 

The ponies haven't spent all day eating. Patsy investigated a watering hole to see if anything was coming through, and Blue compared her silver coat with the silver birch. 

This is the greater spotted hedgecow which can roll into a ball when anxious.

Out of the Sun

With the ponies out of the way, there is plenty of room in the cool barn for the long legs and the long ears to find some shade. They spend so long in here that I have taken to giving them some hay just to keep their tummies working.  At least the poo-picking doesn't take long in such a small space.

Sunday Service

I treasure the time I spend watching my 'wild' ponies and am thrilled when they let me join them on their sorties to the water trough. I insert myself in the line of ponies and just follow them, taking photos. 

I Feel Good

It came to me this morning that most of my life is now spent visiting and working in various conservation projects. Even at home we have dedicated the garden to wildlife, particularly insects, and stopped mowing the lawn except at the most appropriate times of the year. Sometimes it feels like the plants are taking over. Then there's the woodlands that we have been restoring for the past five years, the paddocks, the reserve and, just occasionally, Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya. 

Today I have spent most of the day at the reserve but first I visited Jayne Chapman, Senior Nature Recovery Manager for South Downs & Coast for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (that's a long badge!) who is also overseeing the introduction of more grazing ponies for the Trust. We started at the farm where the sheep were resting in the shade and the breeze (the sheep shearer is due any second). 

The ram was across the way and very pleased to say hello.

Next we went to see two Exmoor Ponies that have been living in another reserve for just six weeks. 

Pictures of my own ponies tomorrow...in the meantime I am not so sure about conserving this little lot. Fifty fallow bucks in my last field of grass. 

Pie

As soon as Pie was turned out on the Forest, he separated from the mares - or was ejected by them - and became a member of a gang of mis-fits, Shetlands, Welsh-crosses and the odd New Forest Pony who didn't want to mix with their own kind. He proved to be an excellent baby-sitter of foals and the mares always trusted him. 

When he first came to me he was actually piebald and the idea was that I would train him. He had other ideas and was determined to remain wild. Before I turned him out though he did go to a show and came last in the prettiest gelding competition; some people have no taste!

Bath time with nice warm water from the jacuzzi. Whether it was that bath or just his nature, Pie was also determined to be as scruffy as possible and often resembled a burst mattress.

 

He was partial to hiding within the burnt gorse, making the most of the caramelised branches, coming out looking like a chimney sweep. 

 Whenever he came in I bathed him but as soon as he was turned out again he got filthy. 

Old age and the Forest environment began to tell on him and he had to have a few front teeth removed. This is why the reserve environment should suit him well as here is lots of long grass that he can eat. 

For all of these years he has been a faithful friend to Patsy, and when the opportunity arose, I bought her to ensure that they could stay together. 

The Famous Five Go Walkabout

Jack nearly got us all into trouble. He jumped the cattle grid that goes into the sports' field in the middle of the reserve but fortunately none of the others followed and he was uninjured. A very sensible member of the club walked back with him to the hand gate and reunited with his friends. The Trust has kindly agreed to put up temporary fencing for the safety of the public and the safety of the ponies while they review the cattle grids and do any necessary maintenance work. The public still have easy access onto the common land. 

In any event, the ponies were well away from the entrance today and exploring a new corner of the reserve.

Here there are houses backing on to the land and somewhere for the ponies to shade out of the sun. As you can see, Patsy's hooves are already much better.