Happy Days

The saying, 'time flies when you're having fun,' nicely sums up the weeks since my last post. We haven't been doing anything special but what we have been doing has been very enjoyable; we've been planning our new bathroom which has involved plenty of discussion over lovely pub lunches; we've been doing lots of sheepy and pony things and been for some good winter walks:)

Our first pony activity of the New Year was to get a worm egg count done. The picture below is of my husband who, although he looks like he is impersonating a gnome, is actually sitting in the pony field, early on a very cold morning, waiting for Tavey to do some droppings (I was watching Rufus). We had a deadline as the faecal sample needed to be at the vets by 10am but as it was a half an hours drive away, it didn't leave us much time from first light. We had nearly given up and had just started pouring out coffee from our flask, when first one went, then the other. The coffee went flying as we gathered the precious nuggets and rushed off to the vets. We burst into the vet's office at 1oam on the dot...phew.

A week later Peter, the grazing officer for the Old Surrey Downs Project, called round with some worming medicine and a bag of pony nuts. We had to mix the wormer with a few nuts and feed it to them over five days. Now, as usually we mustn't feed the ponies, not even a carrot, this was a real treat for us and them, although we weren't sure if they would like the medicine. We needn't have worried as it was apple and cinnamon flavoured and they loved it, licking every last bit of it from their buckets. The trouble is that although the worming is now finished, they are still expecting us to arrive with food and can't believe that we haven't got anything for them, so they follow us around as we are checking the perimeter fences, watching our every move even though there are plenty of juicy plants for them to eat in their field.

The new sheep that we check seem a happy, healthy bunch and are no trouble except for a Jacob that I've nicknamed 'Domino' (because of its markings). We had arrived to find Domino missing from the flock and we eventually found him looking rather dead in a patch of brambles. On investigation we found that he was still alive but had got a thick stem of bramble caught round his neck and as he had twisted round and round trying to escape he had tightened the stem until it was more or less throttling him and he could hardly breathe. It was so tight that it was difficult to release him and when we did his legs were so weak and shaky that he kept falling over but luckily he soon recovered once he got back with the flock and started grazing within a few minutes although I imagine he must have had a sore throat.

We have also recently helped gather the pregnant ewes so they could be transported back to the farm where they were scanned to see what they were expecting. Out of the 32 ewes all are expecting, 19 with twins (and a couple possibly expecting triplets) and all the rest with singles. This will be the first year we are involved with the lambing so I am quite excited.

With so much stock checking I haven't had time to do anything in the garden other than to have a walk round to see what is coming up. It all seems quite behind this year..the snow drop flowers are almost non existent (I'm beginning to wonder if the pheasants are pecking at them) and the daffodils have only just shown themselves above the ground, unlike the Rhubarb which started sprouting underneath the snow in December..pity I don't like Rhubarb.

The other little star of the garden, that has been flowering from before the first snow and is still going strong, is this little primula (or is it a polyanthus..never quite sure of the difference). I think I will have to propagate it as I have never had one that is so strong and perpetually flowering.

2010 was a brilliant year for me but I think 2011 may be even better. Winston Churchill once said, "I am an optimist. It doesn't seem too much use being anything else." This about sums up how I feel, so (although a bit late)...Happy New Year everyone:))))

Nothing Exciting

I can't believe it is a whole month since I last posted anything on my blog so here is a quick round up of whats been going on.

I have now finished off my reptile survey and all 20 refuges have been removed leaving the site clear for the return of the ponies...I am so looking forward to having them back:-) I have been quite pleased with the results of the survey having seen lots of slow worms, common lizards and their off-spring but unfortunately no snakes. The lizard in the picture decided to sit on top of one of the refuges instead of underneath.

We have continued to help with the Old Surrey Downs Project and have recently assisted with the separating of the lambs and ewes. Neither seemed especially bothered at being separated from each other although I found it quite sad. The lambs are now being distributed to the various sites for conservation grazing and we have given the ewes that will be put with the ram a bit of an m.o.t. and they are now enjoying some good grazing to prepare them for another pregnancy.

The garden has been producing an abundance of fruit and veg but, as usual, too much to keep up with so we've given lots away. It has been a particularly good year for our apples so those that were less than perfect have been thrown over the fence into the field for any wild animals to enjoy. This picture shows a young roe deer tucking in to them

We always seem to get this glut of vegetables around this time and then nothing for the winter/spring so this year we have bought a small poly tunnel for the veg plot in the hope that we can actually manage to grow some things over the winter months ready for spring, although, apart from cabbages, I'm not sure what else to try at the moment.

Lastly little Ginger guinea pig had to be put to sleep a couple of weeks ago. He was the surprise package from Gemma one of the other guinea pigs shortly after we had got them. We went to bed with two guinea pigs and woke up to find three. He was a lovely 2" bundle of ginger fluff but grew rapidly to become a very handsome and cheeky piggy. Luckily Gemma, the only guinea pig left now, doesn't seem upset at being alone so I don't feel we need to get another one to keep her company but I will really miss him as he was such a big character.

Soggy Saturday

I have just come back from a weekend in my favourite place, the New Forest. Unfortunately it poured with rain. Bad weather never stops us enjoying our walks through the forest, although, on this occasion wellies would have been more practical than walking boots because as you can see from this picture even the paths were giant puddles.

We tried to base most of our walking in woody areas for shelter and because that is where most of the ponies and deer go when it is wet. Inevitably we got lost a few times (there are so many tracks in the woods it is hard to tell which is an animal track and which is a human track) so our short walks always ended up as very long walks. On one of these unplanned detours we came across this lovely old tree that had bracken and a holly tree growing out off one of it's branches.

It put me in mind of the gravel area in our garden. The idea was to have an area, free from plants, for the clothes line but the plants had other ideas and have self sown themselves all over the gravel and seem to thrive there a lot better than in the flower beds:-)

Talking of plants, now the weather is a bit warmer it is time I started sowing some seeds. I had great intentions of starting the sowing earlier this year but because the weather has been so cold and my husband doesn't like heating the greenhouse I have put it off. The consequence is that I have loads to do all at once (including my 150 Lavender seeds) and very little time to do it. It will be worth it though when I can sit back and see the bees and butterflies enjoying the results of my hard work.

We have just this minute taken delivery of a new, up to date, computer so if I don't post for a while it will be because of teething problems (I have no faith when it comes to new things working first time, especially computers). Thank goodness we have a son (with a Computer Science degree) still living at home:-)

Busy Birds

It is easy to see how pleased the birds are that the weather is no longer freezing because, as well as busily looking for food to build themselves up again, there also seems to be quite a bit of flirting going on. I am really looking forward to the spring and have already collected lots of sheep's wool that I will put out when nest building begins.

My friendly robin survived the freeze ok. While I was doing a bit of organising on photoshop I came across a picture of him/her taken in August....just a baby...

...now he/she is all grown up...and still as cheeky as ever.

Although I am pleased for the wildlife that the weather has improved I am sorry to say that these horrible damp, grey days make me feel very fed up.

We walked over to the ponies yesterday through loads of squelchy mud. The ponies were happy to see us which made it worthwhile. Tivy trotted over for a scratch but Rufus, as usual, carried on eating...during the snowy weather, although he was given hay, he developed a habit of nibbling bark, fences, the gates and the notices on the gates which say 'Don't Feed the Ponies'..hmm..can he read:-))

I am trying to cheer myself up by making some plans for the garden. Last year we gravelled the drive so now we need to make a path down from the drive to the front door and then we will be able to do some planting. When I was a child our next door neighbour's path was lined either side by Lavender and I loved running down it surrounded by bees and a lovely scent. This is what I would like for our path so I have been finding out about different sorts of Lavender. I also want to be able to use the Lavender in cooking and for craft things so it is important to get the right type. I will need quite a lot of plants to line the path on both sides but we have a Lavender farm fairly close to us so I am hoping that they will sell seeds in their gift shop. Can't wait to get going on it.

Dry day in the Garden

At last a dry day, so despite painful muscles after a particularly arduous horse ride the previous evening, I decided to abandon the housework and get into the garden. A drop of rain and the odd bout of sunshine had done wonders for the weeds...stinging nettles had sprung up everywhere and the first shoots of bindweed had reached at least a metre. Why don't all plants grow with such vigour I wonder. There are some weeds though that although a nuisance I can't help liking and the buttercup is one. We seem to have a bumper crop this year but their splash of brilliant yellow adds a nice touch here and there so they have been left for another day.

Another odd thing I find about my garden is the way that the flowers in the border seem to prefer the gravel area around the path. My perennial Sweet Pea, Lavenders and Sweet Williams have all taken to growing there instead of where I originally planted them. It looks pretty though so they can stay too.

Around lunchtime I was just thinking that it felt like I was in another country because our flock of Ring Necked Parakeets were making such a lot of parroty squawks when all of a sudden, just to confuse me further, I heard the sound of bagpipes coming from the other side of the valley...very unusual for SE England. The next hour was spent very happily pottering around the garden accompanied by some really lovely music but then my husband started the lawnmower and the airport started its load of afternoon flights so I went in for lunch.