Along Dappled Lanes

At last, we had a summer`s morning!  Bright, warm sunshine and a blue sky. Flowers opened and the wet land began to dry. I walked around our hill with Old Dog, and looked across open Forest towards the sea, distant rooftops of Bournemouth and blue, misty outlines of the Purbecks.

At the woodland edge there were shining green fronds of bracken, reflecting sunlight.

We walked around puddles in the gravel trackway.......

and in the dip of the lane.

An old black cob was relishing good grass in his meadow.

Light fell on dead branch shapes.

Tree trunks framed the badgers` hollow, where a late foxglove flowered....

...and rotting, hollow birch trunks smelled of damp.

Blue sky topped the trees in the valley. Rowan berries are reddening early this year......

...but this old rowan by the track has a mortal wound in its trunk. Beneath split bark the wood is rotting and woodpeckers have holed the red woody flesh beneath.

Against the sky, its leaves are prematurely yellowing and berries grow scant and poor this year.

On we walked, through the holly lined lane where horses once pulled coaches up towards the London road......

....and found the place where two ashes fell in recent storms. Foresters have cleared the site and now the good timber lies waiting beside the track, waiting to be carried away.

Puddles and Ponies

Heavy showers have blown in from the south west today and soaked us every time we tried to do anything useful outside. Thankfully we had an hour of warm sunshine this evening, when it was time to walk around the fields with a wheelbarrow. The ground was saturated and puddles were standing everywhere. Blue sky and clouds were reflected in water around the raised beds and the roots of raspberries in the fruit cage.

A pool of shallow run-off water stood in the field at the bottom of the slope.

More trickled down a drainage stream and reflected blue sky between buttercups.

Paddled mud has pooled at a field edge. These puddles soon drain away through the sandy soil, but in the meantime the wet mud is a feeding place for birds. Swallows skim the sodden fields for insects to feed their young.

Is it teatime? Jay and the Grey One heard the field gate and cantered down the field, expecting their evening snack, soothing fly cream and some friendly words.

Life is very itchy when you are drying out after a shower...........

....and waiting for the wheelbarrow.

Ginger and the Chocolate pony are both getting better, thank goodness. They were eating their supper in the field shelter this evening, away from the flies.

Wet weather and Poorly Ponies

The last few days have been stressful to say the least! On Thursday morning, the Ginger pony was very unwell. He stood in the field shelter with his head hanging, his breathing rapid and his abdomen looking very tight and "tucked up". Sure signs of colic, so I put him into a clean stable and examined him, finding that his pulse had increased and his temperature was way above normal.

 I phoned the vet, and while she was on her way, Ginger`s field friend managed to find a way to get some attention too. The Chocolate pony became distressed and rushed around the field, so I decided to bring him into the next stable to calm him down and to give Ginger some company. As I put on his headcollar, I saw that he had a fresh 4cm cut on his eyelid. How and where he did this I have no idea. We are careful about fences and nails and we got rid of every bit of barbed wire when we moved in here. It may have been done on a twig.....

So, the kind young vet who arrived found that she had two jobs to do. Ginger was, by this time, lying down and in shock. We got him up and a full examination and treatment were given, including a bottle of the most expensive antibiotic I have come across! However, it was suspected that Ginger had a serious gastro-intestinal infection so we had no choice. The recent wet, humid weather will have caused all kinds of pathogens to multiply in the soil and water.

While Ginger began his recovery, the Chocolate pony was examined and sedated, before the vet did an excellent job of cleaning , exploring and suturing the eyelid wound. One of the vet nurses had also arrived to bring equipment and she was a great help. Thankfully, there seemed to be no damage to the eye itself.

Both Boys had two days in their stables. It poured with rain on Friday and Saturday. Ginger did not begin to feel better until Saturday, but hopefully he is now on the road to recovery. He normally lives for his food so it was awful to see him so ill and with no appetite at all. I took their photos yesterday, when they were out in the field after another night inside.

The Chocolate pony came over so I tried to take a photo of his stitches.......

....a bit blurred, but here they are. The vet will have to come back and remove them in a week or so.
Putting in the daily eye ointment is fun, but some clicker training with treats has helped to make it a better experience for both of us!

Yesterday, when the rain finally stopped, I wandered around the garden to find rosebuds rotting on their stems.........

...but this Harry Wheatcroft rose looked lovely. The colours remind me of old fashioned Cornish ice cream and strawberry juice.

Lettuces , courgettes and weeds have enjoyed the rain.

The dogs were glad to sniff their way around the wet garden and feel some precious sun on their backs.

Old Dog demands his Forest walk in all weathers, but his friend ( who can be aggressive with other dogs) is happy enough to explore the garden several times a day. Both of them are elderly and don`t need the miles of walking that they used to love.

Out on our walk, every path and lane was wet with puddles.

On the edge of a saturated Forest green, selfheal was in flower and a buried acorn had sprouted into a seedling oak.

At Durley Chine - an evening hour of blue sky!

This evening, after another grey day of heavy rain, the sun came out at last! We met friends for a meal in Bournemouth and I arrived early enough to walk down to the sea. It was such a relief to be dry. To see blue sky and blue sea again.

On the banks of Durley Chine, a wooded valley leading down to the sea, there was a field of wild  foxgloves and bright yellow evening primroses. Footpaths wind through the woods and it is hard to believe that the hotels and houses of Bournemouth`s busy West Cliff are just a few hundred yards away.

Down on the beach, people had come out to make the most of the sun; to walk or to play with their dogs on the sands. This lovely young Border Collie was having a great game.

Looking eastwards to Bournemouth Pier.

Across Poole Bay to the west, shone the chalk cliffs of Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks.

More happy dogs.......

Rain clouds were gathering again over  Canford Cliffs and Sandbanks .

It was good to see people out, enjoying the last hour of sunlight and the wash of waves on the sandy beach.

Another Look at Edmondsham

A few more photos taken as we walked around the rest of Edmondsham House gardens in a fine drizzle.


The drive winds its way through tall mature trees.

Above our heads there were numerous clumps of mistletoe growing among the branches of lime trees.

A strange collection of topiarised bushes that looked as though they could come alive and start moving on a moonlit night!

The drive winding on towards the back gates of the garden. In the trees to the left was a shallow pool, half hidden in a dell shaded with weeping willows.

The Church of St Nicholas , which is the parish church for the small village of Edmonsham, is just a short walk away from the House, through an iron gate in the garden boundary fence. The church has its origins in the 12th Century. The north aisle dates from the 14th Century while the nave and the tower were built in the 15th Century. The Victorians "modernised" the church in 1862 but there is still an ancient simplicity about the building and a timeless peace inside.

The mixed stone and flint composition of the walls is similar to that of nearby Wimborne Minster.

We walked back through the gardens and passed the elegant red bricked Coach House and Stables, where the carriage horses of Edmondsham House would have lived in earlier times. The building now houses the Estate Office .

Across the boundary fence towards the rear of Edmondsham House, a vast hayfield of waving grasses stretched away towards the woods.