Where's Our Wildlife Gone?

We seem to be missing a lot of wildlife just lately here in Biggin Hill. In previous years I'd open my curtains in the morning and there would always be pheasants in the garden or a deer in the field but this winter I've only had 2 pheasants visit us on one occasion and three sightings of deer. The fox that regularly visited the garden to drink from the wildlife pond has gone and even the heron hasn't bothered to stop off lately to grab a fish from the fish pond. Hmmm...all very strange.

Thankfully there is plenty of wildlife to be seen when we are stock checking the ponies and the sheep. The sheep have just been moved to graze another area of overgrown chalk downland. It is quite difficult walking through the scrub to check the fences but very entertaining as nearly every step disturbs a mouse, vole or rabbit.

I also love checking the sheep as it gives me a chance to give a very friendly Jacob Ram (I call him Rambo) a scratch behind his horns. He loves it and pulls faces of pure ecstasy:-)

I have been very busy just lately producing some course notes for a friend who is running a course in stable management. The area around my computer is now covered in horse reference books and magazines but at last I have finished with them so I suppose I should now tidy up. It was enjoyable doing the notes though as it refreshed my memory of all things horsey and I also learnt quite a few new things.

Talking of learning new things, my husband and I spent Valentines day attending a Monty Roberts demonstration. He is an incredible man, the original horse whisperer. After suffering many beatings (and broken bones) inflicted by his father and hating the way his father used to inflict similar beatings while training horses, he followed the mustang herds and came to understand their 'language'. He then used that knowledge to train horses without the need of inflicting pain. He has since spread this knowledge throughout the world and it has made such a difference to the way horses are treated. Monty is now 75 and is still going strong in his mission to leave the world a better place for horses. A great man and an honor to see him work.

SSSI

The area of SSSI chalk downland that we overlook has for a long time been a complete mess following the scrub clearance that took place last year. I have been concerned that the work that took place at great expense, both in monetary terms and the disruption to habitats, was going to wasted as almost a year after the scrub clearance the area still is not being grazed. I therefore decided to email English Nature. They were wonderful and replied almost immediately, reassuring me that everything is in hand and going to plan and the area will soon be grazed. I am so pleased and excited as this area used to be very rich in wildflowers. They also asked if I would be interested in doing recording for them this spring and summer so I have put my name forward. Hopefully this will mean I will still be able to access the area even when it is fenced off.

I find it very hard to motivate myself to do anything at this time of year (although I have got loads that I should be doing) but at the same time I feel bored. The highlights of my week are stock checking of the ponies and the sheep and my weekly visit to the stables where I help to get the horses ready for the evening lessons and have a ride myself. As I left home for the stables last week the sky was very red giving a lovely rosy glow to everything. They say, 'Red sky at night, Shepperd's delight' but although the sky looked wonderful, I am not sure there would have been many happy Shepperds as the temperature plummeted. By the time I was ready to ride it was -2 and the yard was frozen solid so I gingerly led Molly to the sand school to mount up. Molly is often a bit reluctant to do things but on that night I think she just wanted to move to keep warm because she was really quite lively.

Communications

I have always found 'communication' to be an interesting subject. For many years I worked as a Speech and Language Therapist's Assistant dealing mainly with pre-school children but, as much as I enjoyed my job, I find animal communication to be even more fascinating.

My cat, for instance, during her 19 years of life, has developed her "meuw" for food, to "meow," to "mnow" and after a couple of attempts she now manages a very respectful "now!...now!...now!" How clever is that...although its also a bit annoying at 5am when she wakes me up demanding her breakfast.

It is the communication aspect that makes me enjoy horses so much. Horses use a lot of body language between themselves but when being ridden by humans they have to interpret a whole host of other communications signals and in general they do it with such good humour. This makes me think that they too must enjoy the interaction with humans.

A couple of days ago, when we were visiting the ponies on the SSSI land, my husband tripped which frightened Tivy and he ran down towards where I was checking his field mate, Rufus. When Tivy saw me he stopped and tossed his head up and down a couple of times. So I tossed my head up and down a couple of times too (I had washed my hair that morning and it was flying around a bit like a horse's mane:-). Tivy looked at me in amazement, then tossed his head up and down again, so I copied him again and this went on for several minutes, each of us taking a turn. It sounds a bit mad, but communication is all about copying and turn taking. However, unfortunately, I haven't a clue what my head tossing conversation with Tivy was all about but it was great fun.

It is shame humans can't communicate better. My son, daughter and grandson left from Gatwick for their skiing holiday in France but their flight was diverted to Lyon due to bad weather. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, the French would not allow the passengers off the plane so they had to sit there for 12 hours!!! Eventually (I think after the British Consulate got involved) they were allowed off and arrived at their destination of La Plange at 5am, nearly 24 hours after leaving Gatwick. If we can't communicate better with our neighbouring country, to sort out simple problems, I don't hold out much hope for the EU ever being successful.

Exciting Visitors to S.S.S.I. Land

On Sunday I went for a walk across the S.S.S.I. chalk downland that is on the other side of the road to the S.S.S.I. land that we back on to. It is being very well manged by the Old Surrey Hills Group who have been sympathetically clearing it of scrub (unlike the area nearer to us). Their initial idea was that they would then put goats on it to keep the scrub down and I put my name forward as a volunteer to look after them. However, on consideration they decided a couple of Dartmoor ponies would be more suited and sure enough there they were busily munching away. I am thrilled as I LOVE horses and ponies and of course have put my name forward as carer for them too... so fingers crossed:-))

Following my previous post I have decided that as well as writing predominantly about wildlife, I will also include more things about my life in general so expect to see more about horses, my pets and my garden. I hope this doesn't put anyone off.

First off is news of one of my Guinea Pigs, Gemma. She has been peeing blood for a few days and today the vet has decided she must go in for further investigations. She is a very nervous Guinea so it will be very traumatic for her. I take her in at 8.45am tomorrow...I soooo hope she will be ok and won't need an operation:-(

Tomorrow is also the day I go horse riding. The horse I ride is being a bit of a problem at the moment in that she can be going really well and seems to be enjoying herself but then suddenly stops and won't move for anything or anybody. The owners have spent loads on veterinary tests, dentist checks and a new saddle, but the problem still persists. I find it very worrying as I hate the thought that she might be in pain. Last week the vet took a urinary sample so it will be interesting to see if that shows up anything. I sometimes think I would be happier just looking after the horses and not actually riding them.

Ragwort: To be or not to be?

At this time of year the fields behind us are usually covered in Ragwort; however, this year there is a lot less, so I am guessing Mr Farmer has sprayed it.

I am not a big fan of chemical weedkillers but as I have mentioned in a previous post, I do think Ragwort needs to be controlled as it can kill grazing animals, particularly horses, and its yet to be decided if it is dangerous to humans. Having said that I have really enjoyed this year, seeing the masses of Cinnabar Moths, whose larval food is Ragwort. In turn, every strand of the remaining Ragwort is now covered with their attractive stripy caterpillars.

A lot of people in the horse world feel that Ragwort should be totally eradicated but surely we need to try and respect that whilst it can be deadly to one species it can be a lifeline to another. I really do sympathise with people who have lost much loved horses to this weed though and hate the thought of any horse, let alone one of the horses I ride, dying in such an unpleasant way. All very confusing...I really don't know what to think.

Anniversary in the New Forest

The New Forest never disappoints when it comes to wildlife. We get off the beaten track and usually walk miles further than intended because we get lost but we always come back having seen something special that compensates for the aching legs. Add to this there is an abundance of my favourite animal, the horse, and I am in my element. I love it down there.

Going at this time of year is particularly enjoyable as there are so many baby animals.

Shortly after I took this photo a stallion started rounding up her and about 30 other ponies and driving them into a valley. Another young stallion was trying to join them but the 'boss' stallion wouldn't let it get anywhere near and kept chasing him back up the hill. This happened time and time again and at one point, after chasing the young stallion, the 'boss' stallion got down and rolled, something horses don't often do when alone unless they are feeling very confident. He then got up and went back to his mares. It was a definite signal saying, ' don't mess with me.' The young stallion went over and smelt where the 'boss' stallion had rolled and after that, although still following and smelling the air, he kept his distance. It was fascinating to watch. The reason for this battle of wills was this lovely mare who was in season, not a typical New Forest pony but beautiful all the same.

There were so many other interesting things; lots of birds, dragonflies, reptiles and flowers, too many things to go into in one post so here are just a couple more pics of babies we came across.

A lovely way to spend our 33rd wedding anniversary.