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.