And on other topics...

[glenatron]

So I've been out and about with my camera again and I didn't take all these pictures just to bore myself with them...



The other evening they were grazing just down the hill from our house, catching the last of the sun.


One of the other guys ambling along to meet up with the rest of the herd.

They were in the same area today, just grazing around the place, totally ignoring all the walkers and people sat out around the place.

This is the view from just a little further on towards the ponies:

Today it was so clear that I could just make out the London skyline on the horizon, I think that is about forty miles from us...


The Chestnut coppice that I walk through heading towards the ponies. I just liked all the lines here. In a week or so they'll be in full leaf and the shadows will be less linear and distinct.


Ransome, a type of wild garlic. I really like the smell of it- it reminds me of holidays when I was small.


I walked a different route home, hoping to meet the herd of ponies on the other side of the valley, but where they had been grazing earlier was empty. It's a lovely place though- I'm thinking it might be nice to bring Zorro up here for a bit of schooling in the outdoors.


Going to cross the stream and who do I find but the ponies I had been looking out for- I didn't notice them for a while either, they really are superbly camouflaged.


I just sat down for a few minutes watching the herd, listening to the sounds of the woods and enjoying a peaceful moment. There is a theory that there was a northern european strain of ancestral horse that lived in forest and marshy conditions- if they have a close living relative it could be these little guys.


As I set out to head home I looked back and realised what I thought was no particular arrangement of ponies was in fact the court of king Greypony with his various attendants and minions. The grey pony isn't an Exmoor at all, he's more a small grey pest, but he lives with them happily enough.

Comments

[penella22.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous pics. Thank you for sharing. I love seeing the wild (feral?) ponies near your house. How amazing it must be to have them living so close by.

And what a picturesque place you live in too. Quite country and quite what I think of when I think of England...very peaceful looking.

Those ponies look like such robust little characters...

[dancing-crow.livejournal.com]

I love pictures of your countryside. It looks different from mine, but beautiful. And I adore the idea of wild ponies down the hill from you.

[http://users.livejournal.com/blitzen_/]

can you eat ransome?

sooo pretty and quiet looking.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

You can actually, we've used the leaves in cooking sometimes and they're pretty tasty.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

It's funny, I really don't know how to refer to them- they are working horses with a job to do, but the job is living like a wild pony, not getting handled and generally just eating stuff. They're very tame, but they wouldn't be keen for someone to touch them, they're just used to people being around and don't get concerned about them.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

The heathland is unusual for britain too- our countryside is mostly more grassy and either rolling or flat. The sandy soil in our area means that it grows a lot of plants more associated with moorland and scottish terrain- in southern England it's only really our area and the New Forest that are like this.

[shiva-matimbres.livejournal.com]

much nicer than swansea

maybe I need to go to the gower

[spoondog.livejournal.com]

We were tromping around the woods behind Oystermouth castle yesterday, there's lots of wild garlic there.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

You do! It is at it's best now.

You could go up to Cefn Bryn and take pictures of little welsh ponies for me!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Also in Singleton Park as I recall. It grows as a weed in a lot of places, but compared to most weeds I rather like it.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Also, in all the time I was in Swansea I never really went north and explored the mountains. I think probably that was a mistake.

[skiesfirepaved.livejournal.com]

Have I ever told you I want to live down south? :P Such beautiful scenery. D:
Haha, the court of King Greypony is fantastic!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

It's not all like this, but we happen to have a lucky corner I think.

The downside is that when it's rainy or fogy our house is always in the clouds cos it's quite high up, by Surrey standards...

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

For "fogy" read "foggy."

[tom909.livejournal.com]

Glenatron, you're beginning to annoy me. How many talents have you got? Photography, music, dressage riding..... You should only have one - that's the rules!

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I suspect that if I have a talent it is for learning, which is a bit of a cheaty talent to have really, it's like asking the fairy godmother for unlimited wishes as your first wish...

[oifonly.livejournal.com]

cor, more really gorgeous pictures there. :)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I'm a real law-of averages photographer- I just always carry a camera and figure that if I take enough pictures eventually one or two of them willprobably come out...