Remnants of D Day at Lepe Beach in Hampshire

These photographs were taken months ago, when we walked on Lepe Beach on the southern shore of the New Forest in Hampshire. The beach is peaceful now. A nature reserve with wonderful views across the Solent to the Isle of Wight and across the entrance of Southampton Water to the coast from Warsash to Portsmouth Harbour in the east.

Seventy years ago yesterday, on 6th June 1944, the Allied Forces began Operation Overlord, their assault on Nazi German occupied France. A huge water borne force travelled from the south coast of England to the Bay of the Sienne in Normandy, where the landed troops fought to free occupied Europe from tyranny. 

Lepe Beach was just one of numerous points along the coast from which the D Day Forces embarked on their hazardous journey across the English Channel. The eastern end of the beach is littered with the remains of buildings, pontoons and the bases from which the floating Mulberry Harbours were launched on their journeys to provide landing pontoons at Arromanches in Normandy.

There are also the remains of the old pipelines of Operation Pluto, which provided undersea pipelines for oil to reach the Isle of Wight and later, Normandy itself. 

Seventy years ago today, these waters would have been thronged with vessels taking men and supplies to Normandy. The beach would have been a hive of activity and, for many of the fighting men who would die in action, the last of England.

A Snake Came.....

An hour ago, I walked out into the garden in early afternoon heat. A grass snake (Natrix natrix) and I met in the lush grass growing so quickly in this damp, humid weather. I`m not sure who was the most surprised!

Instinctively I jumped backwards. We have adders in this garden. I saw the yellow and black collar around the snake`s neck as she slid away, into the leaves beneath the liquid amber tree. Her stripes were    less distinct than those of the poisonous adder. I quickly found my camera. The snake was still there, frozen against the tree bark and almost impossible to see.

Above, she has rested her head on two round nodules of bark in the centre of the photo. Below, her tail is just visible, curled in the centre of the picture, but would be easy to mistake for tree roots or stems among the dry leaves.

Grass snakes will play dead to avoid attack from predators, so I stayed very still and she eventually slithered out, across the grass, to the shelter of the next rough patch of vegetation underneath a tree. She was going in the direction of the compost bins, where she probably has her nest.

The snake had emerged from the herb patch and may have been hunting for mice or searching for water in saucers beneath clay plant pots.

I was pleased to see that the beautiful green mint beetles (Chrysolina menthastri) have hatched again. They arrived last summer for the first time and this hairy, variegated mint seems a favourite plant. 

Around the garden, on the first of June, summer seems to have arrived at last.

Self sown foxgloves mix in with perennial geraniums.......

.....lupins......

.......the first summer roses......

....and the pink flowered ornamental strawberries that would happily take over.

Clematis henryii and the Lady Penelope rose are climbing an old cherry tree stump....

....and this is the first poppy bloom not to have been ruined by rain.

Clematis Gypsy Queen looks well in her second summer here.....

....and the spaces cleared in the old herb bed have made room for new plants.

This is an old plastic tub that once held a Christmas tree. It has a new lease of life as a shallow, small wild pond where birds and insects can drink. I wonder if the grass snake could make her way up through the ivy, to find water?

An Alpha Mare and Forest Flowers

 One afternoon last week, on our nearby Forest green, a small herd of New Forest mares was grazing on short new grass. Forest ponies usually live and graze together in small groups. Sometimes two lifelong friends will form a pair bond and will seem quite independent of a larger group. During the winter months, family groups of around four to six mares are a common sight.

 It is May and the mares may have a foal at foot or may be coming into season and will be receptive to a stallion. This is the time when small groups band together. If foals are around, there is safety in numbers. In a larger group, the dynamics of herd behaviour come into play.

 This group comprises several smaller families. The little threesome of young maiden mares who live around here have joined the older mares. Throughout the day, the older mares had been sorting out their pecking order and a fit, shining bay mare had proved to be the Alpha Mare who would lead and discipline this little herd over the coming weeks. She is the one with her back to the camera in the next photograph.

The young mares put up little resistance to her, but some of her older companions needed reminding who was the boss. With swishing tail, ears back and her face contorted into a threatening grimace, the Alpha Mare would chase, bite and round up anyone daring to wander away or to ignore her instructions. The body language of horses is fascinating to those of us who watch and handle them regularly. Being able to watch a native pony herd coming together and working out their relationships is something quite remarkable.

Although the junior mares were grazing, they were far from relaxed. Their tails constantly swished and  one ear was always locked on to the direction of Alpha Mare, in case she should approach them and issue some instructions!

This year, a relatively small number of selected stallions are being released to serve the New Forest mares and they will be running on the Forest for just one month. The financial recession has lead to a crisis of equine welfare in Britain. There is little demand for foals and the New Forest Commoners do not want to breed unwanted ponies.

If our little herd meets a stallion, they will join up with yet more mares and the competition for the role of Alpha Mare will be played out again. The Alpha Mare has a great responsibility. She is the one who will lead the herd to new pasture, to water or out of danger while the stallion will bring up the rear of the herd, gathering his mares together and herding them into order as they move onwards.

As there was a lot of unrest among the ponies, I decided to turn away and find some of the wild flowers     growing in the lanes and on the heath. 

In the hedge bottoms, greater stitchwort was growing among emerging honeysuckle leaves.

A few late dog violets were still in flower.

There are a few non-native purple rhododendrons up on the hill. Many have been taken out by the Forestry workers as they are invasive and not good wildlife habitats, but while they are in flower, they do look lovely amongst the creamy white, blossoming hawthorn.

Young bracken is beginning to arch its fronds out of the earth and the bright yellow stars of tormentil are a sure sign of summer on the heath.

Sunlit hawthorn

Natural adaptation - on the cropped grass of the valley floor, bluebells grow small on short, stumpy stems.......

......but protected in shady hedges, they grow tall and slender, upwards towards the light.

Back on the green, the restless mares still grouped and regrouped, testing each other out and moving the younger ones around, but the bay Alpha Mare won the day. Later I saw her leading her mares along the lane and up towards the good grass on the hill.

May on the Heath

Life is busy here. There is a lot going on in our village and we have had old friends to stay. The garden and the animals need time and the weather has been lovely.

Out on the heath, at the bottom of the hill, crab apple blossom has fallen but the hawthorn (May) is at its best.

This old hawthorn has branches draped in lichen and a secret bunch of mistletoe that has been there for years.

Late on a sunny afternoon, the May blossom is beautiful against blue skies.