Yesterday, I drove home along the back lane. The main road through the village was busy with traffic. This was a more peaceful way. I could stop along the roadside to take in the soft pastel skies of a reflected sunset. Silver birch and goat willow stood in quiet silhouette against the sky.
Ponds had stayed half-frozen all day and were freezing again as light levels and the temperature fell.
Mature, round holly bushes grow between the birch-bordered grassland and the edge of a Forest inclosure where fir trees are a constant deep green.
A family of rather thin New Forest ponies feed on gorse.
This small, round one is not a New Forest pony at all, but must belong to one of the local Commoners who has grazing rights .
Mother and daughter. Thin after a hard winter, but it was good to see that their owners had put reflective tail bands on. This lane is notorious for pony traffic accidents at night.
2 comments:
I am very interested to learn about the tail bands, what a sensible idea. Just out of curiosity, how do they stay on?
With Velcro, Kath. Same as the reflective neck bands. The tail bands are a recent response to last year`s very high loss of ponies and cattle on the roads. Unfortunately, the ponies get very good at rubbing the bands off when they have a scratch against a tree, but if they help one or two to stay safe then it`s a start.
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