Rufus and Tavey Return

I recently joined an organised walk looking at the stories attached to various plants. The walk took us into the SSSI that had been grazed by the ponies when we their stock checkers. The very knowledgeable lady taking the walk was amazed at the difference the ponies had made and was really excited to find that there were now lots of chalk grassland indicators that were clearly visible. It shows that conservation grazing works and is worthwhile.

During the summer the ponies have been grazing a completely different area that was too far away for us to be their checkers and although we visited them occasionally we still really missed them. However, last week they returned to the original area of SSSI near to us and we are again back to checking them:))) Tavey hasn't changed much but Rufus, the younger one (the grey) has grown such a lot and has lost his baby stature. He also seems a lot more confident and relaxed. It is such a pleasure to check on them and it is also very good exercise for us as the field is on a hill. I hope that we don't have quite such a snowy winter as last year though, as that made it very hard work.
We still also check on a flock of 20 sheep that are conservation grazing on the top of the North Downs. It has been quite a struggle over the last few weeks as they have been in a field covered in brambles and surrounded by Hawthorns. As the picture below shows, they liked to rest under the Hawthorns, but, as we need to check that they were all there and all well, we have had to scramble through the hawthorn bushes to chase them out to see them properly, so, along with brambles catching us round our legs, we have been returning covered in scratches. I'm pleased to say they have now just been moved to a much nicer field, so we managed to do today's check a lot quicker and without a scratch on us.

Below is a picture of my favourite sheep. We call him Rambo as he is a big, strong, handsome Jacob breeding ram but his real name is Ramekins which to me sounds sissy and doesn't do him justice. Although he is so powerful he is very friendly and gentle and loves me to give him a good scratch round the base of his horns. He has just gone on loan to the City of London to do what he does best with some of their conservation grazing ewes so I won't see him for a while but I'm sure he will have a good time:)

There are a few other Jacobs in the flock we check but the rest are all Beulah Speckled Face
sheep.

An interesting fact about sheep is that they only have teeth on the bottom at the front of their mouths and then only eight. They are quite picky eaters and tear the grass by trapping it between the bottom teeth and the hard plate on the top of there mouth. They do have teeth top and bottom at the back of their mouths for chewing the cud but those eight teeth at the front are very important as without them they can't eat.

Rats, Cats and Pheasants

A few weeks back I mentioned my predicament with a rodent problem we were having in the garden, in particular, what to do about a rather cute baby rat who was eating my bird food. In an effort to discourage ratty I bought a metal feeding pole that I could move around the garden in an attempt to make it more difficult for the rat to find the food. Silly me, as if a rat could be that easily fooled and as the picture shows, he easily managed to climb the pole and help himself to the bird food.

A fox had already polished off cute baby rat's parents but, unfortunately, it didn't take long before cute baby rat became a big fat daddy rat himself and so our rodent problem increased once again. That was until a neighbouring cat found our garden. I got up one morning, a few days ago, to find him sitting on our patio with one dead rat at his feet, 10 mins later there was another, 20 mins later he walked past carrying a third in his mouth, then later in the day he left us a fourth. Since then, despite keeping guard for hours, in all weathers, he hasn't caught anymore.

I can't help feeling sorry for the rats but, on the other hand, it had got to the point where we felt we couldn't leave any doors or windows open in the house as they were nesting so close by. I also can't help admiring the cat's determination and acute senses..most of the time that the cat (don't know his name) was keeping guard he just looked like he was snoozing, with eyes tightly closed, but his ears gave it away as they kept twitching showing he was listening for any sound and very successfully it would seem.

At least without the rats around it has left the fallen bird food free for the pheasants who have returned to the garden for the winter. I have to admit that I have also started throwing food out for them as, if I can keep them over our side of the valley, they won't get caught up in the pheasant shoots. This year, so far, we have two males and five females visiting regularly. Usually, if there is more than one male, they are constantly fighting but these two males are very peaceful chaps...

...unlike two of the females who seem to hate each other and are forever squabbling.

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.

Great Fly Past

Last Sunday we went to the Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary open air Concert at Chartwell, the home of Sir Winston Churchill. We settled ourselves on the hill, just below the terrace, overlooking the beautiful lake and bandstand. The concert began with some readings and in the far distance there was the familiar hum of a Sptifire and Hurricane who were due to do a fly past...but they were beaten to it as a group of about 15 geese flew over us in perfect 'V' formation. The crowd cheered and clapped them and the geese circled round and then flew over us again and then off into the distance leaving the sky clear for the aircraft. It was a wonderful moment and I just wish I had had my camera ready.

The concert was quite moving. Most of the audience were my age and I couldn't help thinking that we were all there because our parents had been lucky enough to survive the war. When a life is lost to war (or anything) the generations that could have followed are also lost...so sad.

It is a natural thing to fight for supremacy and the good of the herd and all animals seem to do it. The difference with humans is that we involve so many innocent people in our battles, while mostly, in the animal world, it is just the leaders and leader wanabees that fight and the pack/herd will meekly follow whoever wins, so there is a lot less carnage, but I am very grateful to my parent's generation who all gave up so much for our freedom.

This coming weekend it is the Banstead (Surrey) Countryside Day so if anyone is in the area on Sunday (12th) call in...the entrance is free. It is being held next to the car park in Holly Lane from 10.30am to 4.30pm and should be good...if the weather stays dry:-)

Pony Visit

It has been a week of doing lots of horsey things.

Firstly we eventually found the time to visit Rufus and Tavey on their new site that they are busy conservation grazing and I am pleased to say that it is beautiful. It is quite an open enclosure with a lovely sunny slope covered with lots of sweet smelling wild herbs, like marjoram, basil and thyme. Both ponies have put on a healthy amount of weight which will set them up nicely for the winter and both look very happy. Better still there is a lovely country pub at the end of the footpath which is a good place to round off a visit to them. Unfortunately the site quite a long way away so we are not able to be their stock checkers while they are there but hopefully they will be coming back to our area again in the autumn.


My next horsey caper was to have a go at western riding. Ever since seeing Monty Roberts (horse whisperer) riding western at one of his demonstrations I have been wanting to have a go. I like the fact that they only have the lightest contact with the horse's mouth and they don't constantly keep nudging the horse in then ribs which must be so annoying for a horse. I was very nervous as I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to control my English riding habits and that I would confuse the horse but I needn't have worried and by the end of the lesson I was happily weaving in and out of cones.


My last horsey activity was to visit the Edenbridge and Oxted Agricultural show. We go most years but this time The Old Surrey Downs Project had a stand which we were helping with. Luckily the stand was in a good position where I could look over to see what was happening in the main arena and we also had some time off so we were able to watch some of the horsey classes in other arenas. My favourite was the lead rein class..such cute ponies and children..very Thelwell.


Amongst all this week's activities I have managed to get over to Rufus and Tavey's old site where I am helping with a survey of the reptiles there. I have put out 25 reptile refuges (bits of roofing felt or metal that reptiles like to go under for warmth and to keep dry) and wanted to check what was under them. There were several common lizards and some slow worms including the one in the picture below that is clearly pregnant and ready to pop any day:-)))

Embrace your Weeds

This is a picture of the field just the other side of our garden fence. You can now see why we are fighting a losing battle with weeds in the garden. I would like to complain to the farmer but I am worried that he may use a herbicide which would get rid of the invasive weeds but would also destroy the orchids and other chalk downland flowers that are now appearing after years of it being set-aside land so instead I try to embrace the weeds as wild flowers...which I suppose they are really:-)

I find that if I zoom in on the weeds the photos often show that they are actually very beautiful plants. Here are some examples of self sown incomers to our garden:

One advantage of lots of weeds is that the insects like them and this in turn attracts the birds. I am pleased to say that friendly Robin has raised his/her brood and is back to following me around the garden. The first picture was taken before the breeding season and the second after. She looks a bit the worse for wear in the second picture but then raising offspring can do that to you (you should see my before and after pictures...not a pretty sight..lol).

When all the garden work gets a bit too much to enjoy it is lovely to be able to go up on to the North Downs to do the stock check of the sheep but, unfortunately, the last time we went we found one of the sheep had been attacked by a dog. Poor thing was in a sorry state and as a consequence the flock have been taken back to the farm so that the injured one can be treated and the others checked for bites. This leaves us with no stock to check as the ponies are still grazing another site quite a long way from us. I think we are going to be given 16 sheep to check on another site but it isn't quite as nice as it adjoins rather a rough estate and is notorious for vandalism and dog attacks. I have heard that Lamas and Alpacas are good at protecting sheep from dogs...maybe I should suggest that The Old Surrey Downs Project should get some of them:)

More Comings and Goings

I have just realised that it is nearly 2 months since I have posted anything on my blog. My excuse is that I've been busy, although, on looking back, I can't think what has been sooo time consuming:-) So to summarise what has been going on:

The ponies on the SSSI have now been moved to another site to allow the land to recover before the winter. Rufus (the baby) took 3 hours to load into the trailer so I am pleased to say I wasn't involved. Their new site, which is another area of chalk downland, is a fair distance away but I have been told they are very happy as there is better grazing there. Hopefully they will be back in the winter.

I am pleased to say that the Bee Orchids (referred to in my previous post) survived the pony's hooves along with plenty of Pyramid and Common Spotted Orchids. These all finished finished flowering a few weeks ago and it is now covered with a carpet of wild Marjoram, giving a wonderful scent as we walk through it and lots of butterflies.

Since the ponies have gone I have put down 25 reptile refuges on their old site to see what reptiles there are following the scrub clearance and grazing. So far there have been a lot of slow worms and a few and common lizards. It will be interesting to see which will breed this year.

We still have the sheep to stock check and we have also become a lot more involved with all the sheep that are owned by the Old Surrey Downs. We are now proficient human sheep dogs and (if the sheep are willing) can flip them on to their backs and give them a wonderful pedicure. If they are not willing they flip us on to our backs :-))))

In the garden, the Lavender seedlings are now strong little plants and most have been planted to form lavender hedges alongside the paths (can't wait for next year when they all come into flower...the bees will love them). Otherwise there is the usual selection of weeds, perennial sweet peas, roses and a glut of runner beans and courgettes.

We have recently returned from a lovely holiday in the lakes and mountains of Italy to find that we have some new neighbours. I am not sure they are really welcome though, as it is a family of rats. They are incredibly cute as they gobble up the fall out from the bird feeder but as they are quite close to the house and ponds and knowing how fast they reproduce I don't think we can let them stay. I am not quite sure, at the moment, how we will get rid of them, because, as I am sure you will understand from the photo of baby rat, there is no way I could kill them.