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.

Carneddau Ponies, Final Week!

With just over a week until my move, it will soon be time to say goodbye to my regular visits to Bickerton.

Today, I found Taff leading his herd through a thick wall of bracken; I followed them using a track nearby until they broke cover and crossed my path. The rest of the herd followed the track into a wooded area while Taff stood and waited; I approached him slowly, keen to see where Ellie had gone as she had an obvious limp that needed checking. I gave him a wide berth as I turned towards the rest of the herd but he didn't seem bothered. In the end I walked past him and he followed me back towards the other ponies. I'm not sure if he sees me as part of the herd or not, but I felt quite privileged after that...mainly due to the fact that I haven't been kicked yet!



Taff Waiting

Mist

Fflach

Shy

Mist

Fflach and Sam

After I checked Ellie over for any wounds, I guessed it was a kick injury (probably from Shy as Ellie likes to steal Sam's food) which didn't look like it was slowing her down too much but I noted it down to be safe.

Ellie taking the weight off her rear left leg.

 When I turned around Taff was right behind me; let's just say I'm glad cameras come with neck straps.

He didn't seem spooked by my reaction; instead he started trying to eat my camera strap and when he worked out it wasn't edible (with a little persuasion from me) he decided to attempt eating my walking boots instead. I got a little worried at one point as I was backed up against a tree and he opened his mouth wide, as if about to take a large chunk out of my leg (the knowledge that ponies are herbivorous isn't really a comfort when you see how big there mouth is and know what damage they can do to trees with there teeth!) I was very pleased when I found out it was a yawn!

Taff and Sam

 The two outcast males Jack and Col were also found; but it was only a brief meeting, they were very skittish today so I doubled the distance and only stayed long enough to see that they were healthy before I moved on.

Jack

Col

Col with bilberry juice markings.

 I also found a lot of other interesting things to take photos of. At the moment Bickerton is so alive with dragonflies, bees and butterflies it's very hard not to get carried away with the camera!

Small Copper Butterfly

Small Copper Butterfly

Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Peacock Butterfly

Speckled Wood Butterfly

Speckled Wood Butterfly

A very small cave I found today: it doesn't go back very far, but a cave nonetheless!

The moon was out too; I thought it was a nice enough picture to include in the blog.

I don't know yet for definite how many more times I'll be able to visit Bickerton before I leave Chester. But I do hope I get some more good shots in the few days I have left here!