A Battle of Wits and Battery Power.

After a rather short and lively visit to Cumbria I ended up back in Chester once more. The constant change in weather over the few days I've been back had stifled my attempts at going out for some photography; that is, until today. The sun was out and, although blustery, the temperature still rose to a scorching 24C.

I had missed Bickerton a little while I was away so decided to take a longer trip there than usual. However, after over an hour of searching for the ponies in all their favourite places it seemed as if I was up for a rather disappointing day. Although, even without the ponies Bickerton still has some interesting subjects to photograph; for the moment the butterflies are sparse and in decline. But today a foray of fungus have spread over the entire area so I decided to try my hand at photographing them for a change:

With my camera battery quickly failing (having forgotten to charge it the night before and rushing out without the spare) I only had 15% of power left when the herd of six finally made themselves known nearby the hill fort. The hill fort is usually the outcasts domain; but with the bilberry sweet and ripe for the picking the larger herd have moved in and displaced them:

Fflach and Shy

Mist

Taff

Taff

Fflach

 With Taff and the rest of the herd very close I was quite surprised when I saw Jack on a heathered outcrop only 200m away. With no territorial checks from Taff the outcasts were pretty much left to their own devices so long as they didn't come too close.

Jack

Jack and Col (bilberry markings)

Jack and Col

Jack

 Even though Taff had been calm with their presence today I noticed that Col was slightly lame on one of his forelegs so made it known to the conservation officer. Apparently Taff had been chasing them away all day yesterday trying to move them off the more favourable territory.

Col

New ponies should be arriving very soon so it's going to be interesting to see if Taff manages to keep his dominant role in the near future. Hopefully I shall visit again later this month; but, as of tomorrow, I'm back in Cumbria.

Final Day at Bickerton Hill!!!

First of all, I would like to mention my good friend, Emma. She's a great graphite artist and has also recently started doing photo manipulation projects. She's an amazing artist and has done some great art projects for me in the past- check out her website for a look: http://batty-phoenix.deviantart.com/ 

My final day in Chester has been a busy one to say the least. Being pressed for time I moved at a fast pace, well as fast as possible on uneven ground riddled with tree roots and sandstone slick with rainwater.

After half an hour had passed and with my visit to most of the pony "hot spots" I was worried I wasn't going to find them. Luckily I found a fresh trail of small hoof prints on one of the sandy trails and was able to track their route through the bilberry.

Fflach doing her job, eating the birch.

Ellie, whose leg seems to have healed.

 I had found the larger herd but Taff was nowhere to be seen. After walking to higher ground and scanning the area for any sign of him failed I went back to the herd and waited. The heathland was eerily silent except for the occasional mewing cry of a circling buzzard until angry hoof beats exploded through the bilberry.

Taff was back, but agitated. His legs were dripping with bilberry juice which, for a split second, fooled me into thinking he had cut his legs on the gorse bushes.

Taff

 He started staring towards the boundary fence and for a moment I thought he may be reacting to the cattle on the other side. But then I saw a bright chestnut coat through the trees and a distinctive white blaze and finally knew what Taff was reacting to.

As he started galloping over to the two outcast males I decided to follow and ran as fast as I could through the gorse and bilberry, carefully avoiding the tree roots and rabbit warrens.

 I managed to keep good pace with Taff who looked confused as to why I was following him but showed more interest toward Jack and Col who were now in plain view near one of the water troughs.

Stand off between Taff, Jack and Col

Taff trying to scare Jack and Col away from the water trough.

 With Taff trying to establish his dominance; Jack, the lowest ranking male, decided to try and dominate Col by biting as Taff gave chase.

Col (with a bilberry juice covered coat) being bitten by Jack as they run from Taff.

 After Taff had a drink from the trough, and with Jack and Col making it clear from their constant return that they weren't going to move from the area anytime soon, he decided to gallop back to the main herd.

Taff running back to the herd

Jack and Col

After Taff left, Jack was still biting at Col's neck but whenever Col moved around to kick Jack would soon retreat again. Whether Jack will succeed in becoming dominant male of the outcasts is unclear; however, Col does have a bigger build and tends to be more aggressive but only time will tell.

Jack biting Col

With all the ponies accounted for and clear of injury I started to make my way back to the car park only stopping if something interesting caught my eye:

Tortoiseshell butterfly

Small copper butterfly

Bumblebee

I do hope to visit Bickerton now and again while also finding other interesting things to photograph and write about whilst I'm up in Cumbria.

Time is Running Out...

It has been a busy week this week. Thursday threw me a 4am start to get to my old home county of Oxfordshire, where I spent most of the day at Bourton-on-the-Water. After the early start and long journey I wasn't as quick with the camera as I would of liked but I still got a few decent shots:

Southern Hawker Dragonfly (Female)

 The journey back was even longer with the M6 closure. However, it did let me try my hand at photographing red kites from a moving vehicle. Sadly, most of the shots were of passing lorries and the only one I did get was out of focus with too much movement from the car. But it's something to try an achieve next time!

The Saturday at Bickerton was a complete washout. With the thunderstorm the night before I was hoping the weather would be fair; but this is a British summer...the only thing that gets warmer is the rain!

Hiding under trees to spare the camera, there were still some pretty decent shots available:

Rainbow's End...I can confirm there is no gold!

 The ponies, like me, had taken refuge under some large birch trees and were grazing at the bracken. Well, most of them were, Sam had decided to try his hand at eating a thistle; no matter how daintily he tested the flower with his lips and teeth the thing was still prickly; and when the flower finally broke off in his mouth he decided better of it and spat the thing out.

Sam Testing the Thistle

Taff

Sam and Mist

 After checking all the ponies I turned to leave; however, Fflach had managed to sneak up behind me and was now asleep with no more than ten centimeters distance between us, it was lucky I had my camera lens pointing downwards to shield it from the rain or I may well have bopped her on the nose with it.

 Although Taff and Fflach seem very accepting of me I really didn't think it was a good idea to be that close to a sleeping pony when any swift movement could startle her awake. So I backed off slowly and as quietly as I could to which Fflach only woke to switch her weight to different legs.

Needless to say that was a special day for me; to have the ponies move in that close was amazing and the fact that Fflach was comfortable enough to fall asleep with me so close was quite touching considering it's one of the rare vulnerabilities these animals have.

Fflach and Mist

 Sunday was especially busy. As it was my last weekend down in Chester I decided to take a trip to Delamere with Bickerton following afterward.

Delamere was also rainy but it cleared quickly allowing me to confidently use the camera without the risk of any damage. But I only managed a couple of shots before the rain clouds massed again, forcing me to find cover:

Buzzard

Baby Toad

 By the time I arrived at Bickerton the rain had stopped and the sun was able to push through the clouds.

With the sunny weather butterflies were seen although were an unusually uncommon site, probably with the earlier unfavourable weather:

Small Copper Butterfly

Tortoishell Butterfly

 The herd of six were yet again the only ponies I found on Bickerton. With the sun out they were all found dozing on an upland clearing allowing their coats to dry:

Sam

Mist

Ellie and Fflach

Ellie and Fflach

 Taff and Shy were the only two not stretched  out in the sunlight. Shy was too busy grazing on the fresh grass shoots that had been fed by the rain; while Taff stood, although sometimes dozing, gaurding the herd. When he saw me taking photos he came over to inspect; sniffing at my hands and at the camera, I was worried he might try to eat the camera strap again, but he soon turned round and went back to his guarding duty.

Taff Guarding the Herd

Mist

Mist, Fflach and Ellie

This week was a good, although tiring, week. And with one final visit to Bickerton due on Wednesday it seems that next week is going to be even more interesting.