A Rubbish Post

The life of a conservation volunteer is wonderfully varied. One week we may be moving sheep and ragworting, the next it could be moving ponies or cows and rubbish picking.

Last week it was rubbish picking.  It seems that some of the chalk grassland sites we work on were once grand fly tipping areas.  A lot of the larger rubbish is removed when a site is initially cleared and fenced, however, when the area is to be grazed, the remaining smaller bits of rubbish also need to be cleared and it is amazing how much of it there is.

After a quick sheep move our task was to rubbish pick an area at Hutchinsons Bank that will possibly be grazed by the project's two Dartmoor ponies in the Spring. It is strangely satisfying when one reviews the big load we removed from the site.

It is even more satisfying when one sees all the broken glass, barbed wire and other dangerous things we removed.  I wonder how many wild animals may have suffered with injuries caused by this rubbish.

Most of our volunteer livestock work involves the conservation grazing sheep but another variation over the last couple of weeks has been tasks involving the Project's cows and ponies.

I am not very confident with cows as the only ones I have been involved with in the past were some rather dopey bullocks owned by my boss in a previous job. These big fellows would happily walk all over you rather than round you:)  Animals are quick to pick up if one is nervous and the biggest give away is the way one breathes so I had to use the 'boring' technique (see 'Boring' post 18/9/11) to make sure I stayed calm while helping move the cattle.  The first move was taking five of the Project's Sussex bullocks to the field next to Holly Lane car park at Chipstead. They were all very good which is just as well as they were sporting sharp little horns which on occasions seemed to be just a matter of inches from the Grazing Officer as he ushered them into the trailer.

The second move was taking the remaining three bullocks to Foxley Wood, Purley.  This is a surprisingly lovely site, a little oasis, close to the infamous, car infested, Purley Cross and with views across to Riddlesdown.

Following the move to Foxley Wood there was just enough time to visit the farm where the Project is over-wintering twenty conservation grazing cows for the Corporation of London. Even though I am not a fan of cows I have to say these are a lovely group who seem friendly and inquisitive.  One particularly caught my eye as she looks as if she has just had her top knot permed:)

My favourite stock move over the last couple of weeks has been the return of the ponies to my livestock checking area of Tatsfield.  The sheep were moved up a field and the ponies have gone in at the bottom, conveniently next door to the farrier as they will soon need their hooves trimmed again.  It is the first time they have grazed this field so after gobbling down some tasty grass they trotted round inspecting their new abode.

Then it was time to show off with a bit of bucking and galloping around just to inform any rivals or predators (being ponies they still think there may be wolves in Surrey:)) that they are tough guys.

Then they noticed the sheep staring at them from the adjoining field.  Both ponies and sheep looked shocked and quite horrified at first but it didn't take them long before they were politely introducing themselves....

Lastly I wonder if other people are having trouble with their blog sites?  I have had to change my 'comments' from embedded to pop-up as some people (including myself) couldn't access them. Also there are several of my favourite sites that I cannot access at all and others that I cannot access the comments on.  Is it my computer or is it blogger or something else?  Any ideas would be most welcome.

Boring, Boring, Boring

I like to live harmoniously with animals whether wild or domesticated and over the years I have found it essential to stay calm when handling or training them as they pick up on stress, tension, fear and irritation sooo fast causing them to become over-anxious and hard to manage.

Unfortunately not everyone sees it like that and I have seen people who, having themselves created this reaction in animals, to see it as deliberate disobedience whereupon they have become angry and aggressive with the animal. It is then a viscous circle until the animal ends up being labeled unmanageable and is often destroyed. Very sad and unnecessary and makes me VERY annoyed.

One of the biggest ways animals can pick up on emotions is by the way we breathe...when we are tense we take shorter breaths. I used to find it very hard to slow my breathing down and relax until, at a Kelly Marks (Intelligent Horsemanship) demonstration she mentioned a pupil of hers with the same problem who overcame it by saying to herself, on one long outward breath, "Boring..boring..boring." It works brilliantly every time and I've used it lots of other situations too like dealing with difficult people who are stressing me:) Try it.

In general I don't like to tame wild animals as I feel they are safer keeping away from humans, however, I make the exception for the pheasants that visit the garden as by feeding them they stay over my side of the valley where no shoots take place. My little group of friendly pheasants now stay close to the garden all the time which is just as well as pheasant shooting starts on 1st October:( One funny little female pheasant has become extra friendly and given the choice prefers to eat out of my hand rather than eat the same food off of the ground. She really seems to enjoy the interaction.

I do of course put food out for all the birds, however, we have recently had a Sparrowhawk that has taken to resting in our tree, right by the bird feeder, so I have felt it unsafe to refill it for a while. It has been interesting to see how close I can get to the hawk by moving slowly and using the 'boring' technique..only just close enough to take this photo so far.

Another recent occasion when I have needed to use the 'boring' technique was while getting the Downland Project's two Dartmoor ponies used to being handled again and having their feet picked up ready for a visit by the farrier prior to a move to another conservation grazing site. The ponies have minimal handling so that they will stay away from humans as some sites have footpaths running through them. This makes it safer for them and for the public (although some idiots still try to feed them despite the notices telling them not to...grrrr)

The picture below is of Rufus having his feet done back in April. He behaved perfectly then but when the farrier visited this time Rufus managed to plant a sharp kick on the farrier's leg..whoops.. I obviously wasn't thinking bored thoughts...sorry farrier:)

Thankfully the ponies behaved very well when they were moved, a great improvement from the first time which apparently took 3 hours! I wasn't there for that (thank goodness) and since then the grazing officer has spent a long time patiently getting them to feel happy about the trailer which has obviously paid off.

I will miss our visits to check the ponies even though they used to frequently find it funny to do a runner just as we were trying to look them over...

I will also miss their company when we are over at Saltbox pulling ragwort, checking the reptile refuges or photographing things as then they become very nosey wanting to know what we are up to. We can't even take a rest without them inspecting us. This is Rufus investigating my husband's big boots which usually smell strongly of sheep:)

And this is Tavey making sure that he is the only good looking chap in my photograph..after all he is rather handsome and he knows it:)

Hope they will be happy at their new site.

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 :)))

Dawn Chorus...of Cars.

This morning I decided that it was time to properly enjoy the wonders of the dawn chorus so at 5am I dragged hubby out of bed and we set off to the ponies with a breakfast of currant buns and coffee in the backpack.

To me it felt very early and the birds were singing with great gusto but unfortunately it was just the start of another day for a lot people who were off to work and car after car drowned out the magical, joyful bird song. It was very disappointing and although I should have really felt sorry for people who have to leave for work so early in the morning, at the time I felt really resentful

It was a bit quieter by the time we got to the ponies as it is further away from the road but by then the best of the dawn chorus was over. It was still good to be out at that time in the morning and we enjoyed our picnic breakfast. Of course inquisitive Tavey wanted to know what was going on and had to check out my walking pole to see if it was edible...

...and then he wanted to know if I had saved him any currant bun (which I hadn't).

In retrospect, despite the car noise, it was a nice start to the day and I feel so lucky that at 5am I could be walking across beautiful countryside, spotting wild flowers, rabbits, foxes and deer and two happy little ponies, instead of having to drive to some boring job in a stuffy office...I've been there, done that and never want to do it again:-)

Feeling Sheepy

The Old Surrey Downs Project have returned the sheep to the Tatsfield site so we are back to stock checking them again as well as the ponies. The area where they are grazing is on the side of the North Downs and there are beautiful far reaching views. Unlike before, our visits now benefit from the warmth of the sun as it is a very much a sun trap. The top fields are now bordered by masses of Violets and Primroses and rabbits, making the most of the better weather, scuttle back to their underground world as we walk down through the fields. It is such a pleasure.

As a reward for our work, all the stock checkers were invited to the farm to see the lambing in progress. It is good to see this new life knowing that these lambs are not be going to be eaten but will live, for as long as their health allows, as conservation grazers. Some of the older sheep are now in their teens:-) The following day we were back on the downs to help with the back breaking job of hoof trimming. All very enjoyable.

Today it is our day for checking the ponies. When we walk to them we pass the SSSI land that was cleared last year using heavy machinary and still hasn't been grazed. It will be interesting to see how the two sites develop as they are virtually side by side. At the moment they have mostly the same flowers coming through, although, the machine cleared area has far more Violets and an area of Coltsfoot.

The pony area has more Cuckoo Pint but that is probably because it is a more sheltered site with more trees but if Rufus has anything to do with it they will all be eaten. I think he is coming up to two so is probably teething and likes to chew on something hard.

Sadly although the volcanic ash has grounded most flights in the country there still seems to be flights going in and out of Biggin Hill Airport so we can't enjoy the peace and quiet but it does help a bit not having the constant buzz of planes stacking for the major London Airports. One day I would like to move to a place where I can't hear any planes or traffic...that's if such a place exists in this country.

Sunny Days

I have at last got round to cleaning up the fish ponds and have been rewarded with the fish making an appearance to bathe in the warmth of the sun. Despite the freezing temperatures we've had this winter I have only lost two fish and one of those was very old. As I stood on the bridge admiring my tidy pond, I was surprised to count 4 new baby fish that had also survived the hard winter. I really don't want anymore fish as I already have too many (that is why we've ended up with two fish ponds) but I can't help enjoying watching them grow especially when they start to develop their colours. We only bought 5 fish when we built the first pond but from that 5 we now have well over 30 fish and two ponds. We also have a wildlife pond but for some reason the frogs prefer to spawn in the fish ponds.

The birds in the garden have also been very busy and I am pleased to see friendly robin seems to have a mate. I have already seen the pigeons collecting bits for nest building so it won't be long before the other birds are at it too. When we do our sheep check I have been gathering some of the fleece that is caught on the brambles and trees. I have then cleaned and dried it in the green house ready to put out around the garden for any birds wanting a cosy, warm nest.

It has made such a change to do the stock checks in the sun. On Friday it was so lovely when we visited the ponies that my husband and I sat on a fallen tree trunk for a while to enjoy the warmth of the sun. Tivy and Rufus who were grazing close by came over to investigate what we were doing. Rufus was too timid to come very close but Tivy spent about 30 mins investigating us. As a small pony I don't think he had ever seen the top of a human head before as he kept smelling our hair which had been freshly washed that morning. Bit of luck we hadn't used apple scented shampoo :-)

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.

Mystery Pony

Yesterdays visit to the SSSI land to check on the ponies needed to be quick as we were due at a family celebration for my mother's 86th birthday. You can therefore imagine how we felt when, on walking through the woods towards the ponies enclosure, we came across some fresh pony sized droppings. Images of a lovely lunch were rapidly replaced with images of having to traipse up and down the valley, through mud and brambles, looking for our charges.

When we got to the enclosure both ponies were there (phew!) but so was another pony. Very odd as the area is really only accessible by stiles or kissing gates and I don't know of any ponies that have managed to negotiate either of these.

Shortly after our arrival a grazing officer form the Old Surrey Downs Project arrived. She had already been told about the extra pony and had been making enquiries with a local horse owner who unfortunately didn't recognise it. She then tried the police who said they could only act if the pony was on the road and then she tried the RSPCA who had no one that could come out as all their officer were in Cumbria helping with animals affected by the flood.

In the end we had no option but to leave him where he was... he was safe, had water and plenty of grass to eat so couldn't come to any harm but the mystery remains...who does this pony belong to and how did he get there?