DRAW RESULT AND A MAGICAL ENCOUNTER

 THE DRAW

Congratulations to Virginia. If you could email me your details to emparko@gmail.com, I will get it in the post as soon as I can. My son pulled it out of the bowl when he got home from school and was very excited about doing so. He’s also got over the disappointment of my cancelling my operation as I’ve managed to reschedule his staying over with his friend. Only 10 days till the end of term and almost seven weeks of social secretary time. 

This afternoon, I decided to go for one of my non-pony walks into the wilderness. From afar I spotted the rival herd and thought I could see a pony that might be the injured one. I trudged on and ended up sitting on a rock close to them for a rest. To my surprise and delight, a couple came over to us (Snippet busy with mouldy old sheep bone) and got very close. I sat there for half an hour and was eventually surrounded by seventeen of them, including two foals. One yearling colt, kind of splodgy blue roan and white, came in for a nuzzle. Eventually I stood up and, with a lot of calming deep breaths, was able to scratch his withers and then his head and chest. Lots of licking and chewing from him so I felt safe and I have to admit to shedding a bit of a tear at their acceptance. He’s the only one I don’t have a decent photo of because he arrived so quickly and was then too close. It was absolutely magical and an experience I’ll never forget. My hand smelt VERY strongly of pony; that smell we all love (well most of us anyway….), but concentrated. Here are the pictures I took today, without the use of the zoom for once I might add!

When I arrived:

First approach:

Second wave:

The rain coming.....thirty seconds later, it reached us

Views I will never tire of:

If you don't normally enlarge the photos, do it this time, if only to see the close up of the foal's face big; the markings on her face are just beautiful. 

Congratulations again to Virginia and I’ll do another giveaway next month. Till next time....

NEWTS IN TUPPAWARE AND LAST CHANCE BEFORE THE GIVEAWAY DRAW

What a strange few days, from weather warnings to bright sunshine yesterday, to persistent light drizzle today. Washing machine full of stuff that I can't put out. Over the weekend, we noticed that, in the small-ish round tuppaware tub we sank into the ground to house the rescued tadpoles in April, there are a pair of common newts. The tadpoles seem to be taking a very long time to mature  but have now got legs to go with their tails. I keep replacing their pond plants as they eat them. I just can't believe how small a piece of water can attract so much wildlife. It's less than a foot in diameter:

Tuppaware wildlife haven

I've decided, after hearing a piece on frozen shoulder on 'Inside Health' on Radio 4 and discussing it with my GP, to cancel my scheduled 'procedure' later this month. It was said to be very old-fashioned and not what is generally recommended these days. My hydrotherapy physio said she wouldn't dream of letting anyone do it to her and that things have moved on radically. I feel very relieved and will now be getting a second opinion and seeing a shoulder specialist, which I didn't do before. It was just assumed that, because I have type 1 diabetes, am female, and am pushing 50, that it was a frozen shoulder. 

There were loads of things I was going to talk about but they've all slipped my mind, so here are some nice pictures instead!

The herd about an hour's walk away on Sunday morning

Another skylark....there really are thousands of them here

A buzzard in the better weather yesterday

Swallow who was making a huge amount of noise

This lamb seems to have been born incredibly late; all the others are four times its size

This is Lizzy...I think. She appears to be changing colour and be developing white stockings. Looking at earlier pictures of her, her legs are paler than her body. The chestnut who originally had the white stockings (number seven) has totally different facial markings so I'm pretty sure this is her. She was close to Betty but they're all getting so independent now it's difficult to pin them down. 

Betty and foal number 3, still a very small boy

Eyebright; so tiny that I've only just noticed it's not bedstraw. The flowers are about a millimetre wide and there's not a lot of it about yet, unlike the bedstraw. I originally wondered how anyone would collect enough to go under their sheets, but now there's enough for a whole town's worth of beds.

And finally, some cotton grass for Bovey Belle, not looking great now but still hanging on

The draw for the Sleeping foal prints is tomorrow so there are still 24 hours or so before my son gets home from school and pulls the winner out of whatever container we decide to use. Good luck and thanks to everyone who's already entered.

SOME NEW DRAWINGS AT LAST AND PONY MEETINGS

Lost Lamb

Two Snoozing Lambs

It's been months since I had the time to sit down and draw what with the dry rot and other diversions, but yesterday I set aside a couple of hours to work properly. I'm using the scans rather than photographs now, which is why they look a bit washed out compared with the others on the sidebar. It's so difficult to get a true representation although I don't think my laptop is helping matters. These are both of this year's lambs. I'm more pleased with the top one I think but I can change my opinion by the hour!

Yesterday, Trigger, Snippet and I had a couple of interesting encounters whilst out for a walk. We came down the drive and out of the gate to find the rival herd of ponies hanging around. We managed to get through them with little trouble thank goodness. I was trying to keep calm so as not to transfer it to Trigger and he was really good. A little coloured colt refused to move out of our way so in the end I just walked into him and he shuffled off.

They then all decided to follow us up the road which was a bit of a worry but eventually they gave up. 

We're being followed!

Ten minutes later we came across the main herd up at the rocks:

The grey gelding staring at us in this picture followed us for about 100 yards down the hill until I gave up and took the risk of letting them meet. Actually, it was the right thing to do. They just nuzzled a bit and the colt cantered back up the his herd having established Trigger was no threat. No pictures as I was a bit preoccupied!

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT ON THE LAST POST TO BE ENTERED FOR THE SLEEPING FOALS PRINT DRAW!

Here are a picture of Trigger on the walk and some of Snippet as Kath asked to see more of him.....

PRINT GIVE AWAY AND A PAIR OF BULLFINCHES

So, just leave a comment to be entered for the draw or, if you aren't able to do that, send me an email to emparko@gmail.com with your details. I think it was a great idea of Country Rabbit's to suggest other bloggers who publicised her giveaway would be entered twice so let me know if you do and I'll do the same. You never know, I might get a few entries. Just cut and paste the above picture! I'll put the entries in a hat, or something similar next Tuesday July 10th. 

Today, whilst looking out of the kitchen window, a pair of bullfinches landed amongst the Geraniums and Solomon's Seal. I grabbed the camera and got a few decent pictures. I'm always staggered at the vibrancy of the male's colouring. Absolutely stunning.

It hasn't stopped raining all day; just varying degrees of drizzle and downpour. The poor ponies were looking a bit depressed here this morning, backs to the wind.

Some more pictures from the weekend.....

Snippet in the sedge

Moorland grasses

Snippet on a walk along the river Oke on Sunday

Ferns growing in moss on a Rowan tree nearby

Astrantia in the garden....one of my favourites

My shoulder operation date came through today. My son is just really excited that he gets to spend the night at his friend's house; his concern is touching! Good luck in the draw.......

Beautiful, if ominous sky this afternoon