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:))))

Christmas Dinner

Christmas can be an expensive time and this year it has been particularly so. We haven't spent a lot on presents and I even managed to keep the catering down to fairly sensible proportions but I have spent loads on bird food. It has been so very cold and snowy for such a long time. How could I look out my warm and cosy living room window, while tucking into my second box of chocolates, and watch birds like this poor crow wading through the snow late in the day. Of course I have had to put out copious amounts of food for the garden wildlife.

On some days it has been like Piccadilly Circus with birds coming and going from the feeders. They have all got on very well with each other except for the pigeons. They haven't been aggressive with the other birds, just amongst themselves and I have seen some awful bullying going on. One pigeon repeatedly stood on another one pecking savagely at it. Then it would fly away only to return a few moments later to lay into the same bird again. I didn't know pigeons could be so nasty but I guess in extreme weather it's everyone for themselves.

Friendly Robin has been bobbing around outside the patio doors each morning, waiting for his breakfast. He seems to be surviving his second winter very well and looks fat, healthy and happy (not surprising with the gourmet food he's been dining on:)

A good number of pheasants have now made themselves at home in the garden thus avoiding the Boxing day shoot:)))) They are so intelligent as birds go and quick to become tame. If they see a movement from within the house they run over to the window making little chirping noises. Needless to say I have a big tub of grain at the ready to throw out the window for them. One of them has also found the small bird's bird table and regularly wedges herself in it to finish off anything that friendly robin has left behind. How can anyone enjoy shooting these lovely birds or any other living thing come to that.

As well as being expensive with food it has also been a busy Christmas as, with snow on the ground, the ponies have needed hay every day as well as having the ice removed from their trough and their water topped up. The hay and water have to be carried over to them so it is heavy work and time consuming but very rewarding when we are greeted with a whinny of welcome from a hungry pony and a lovely way to start Christmas morning:))))))

We also have some additional sheep to check. They are on a site in a beautiful nearby valley. It is quite a walk to get to them but their hay and water is in the wonky barn so we haven't needed to carry it to them. The site they are on goes steeply up the side of the valley and was very slippery in the snow but thankfully most of the snow thawed last night so today's visit was easier. I am looking forward to seeing what wild flowers and butterflies there are at this site in the summer. It also looks like there are some good place for reptiles too.

Finally, I was looking in 'Culpepper's Complete Herbal' (a Christmas present to myself) and found that back in 1653, when his book was first published, Dr Culpepper suggests Holly berries to, 'purge the body of gross and clammy phlegm'....yuk...I wouldn't recommend it though, if you are one of the many suffering with a bad cough this Christmas, as I think Holly berries may be poisonous. On the other hand if you are suffering with a bad case of, 'worms that breed in the ear' you should be ok with a dose of Sage...lol. I love this book but I am so pleased I didn't live in the 1600's:)))))

Happy New Year to everyone.

Oh No, Snow!

In my last post I mentioned that I hoped we wouldn't get as much snow as last year as it made checking the ponies such hard work...here we are, one month later, with even more snow than last year! It has been snowing for the last three days depositing around one and a half feet of the white stuff. The ponies don't seem to mind though. They have icicles hanging off their coats, manes and tails and the snow comes above their knees but despite a supply of good fresh hay they prefer to dip their noses into the snow...

...and eat the grass underneath.

They don't seem to have any trouble wading through the deep snow to get around...

...however, I do and after three days of doing the mile walk to and from their field up to my knees in snow, my legs ache and I feel exhausted.

The scenery has been incredible though and I have taken so many photos but sadly I can't show them all. The one below is of the snowy valley as we walked back home yesterday. It was totally silent and very beautiful.

This next photo was taken of our little house (bottom right) when we were nearly home. We had popped into the local store and bought chocolate bars to have with steaming cups of coffee when we got in...mmm...it was lovely and as I am sure I must have burned thousands of calories on the hike to and from the ponies, I didn't feel guilty at all :)))

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:-)