After the Storm had Passed

Rain is falling in torrents  this morning. I just managed to feed the animals and walk the dog before the sky darkened again.

Yesterday, after a rainy night and morning, we had a few hours of reprieve before sunset.

Out on a walk with old Whisper Dog, we had to paddle through large puddles where ditches blocked with leaves had overflowed.

We met some wet New Forest ponies, grazing on the green.

Some were feeding on holly..........

.... or finding grass beneath fallen oak leaves.

One pony decided to follow a village friend on her walk.

The hill slope was wet underfoot.

Forest pools on the hill were full again.

Down on the moor, and across to the Bronze Age burial mounds, watery sunshine lit up pools and puddles.

Golden rusts and dark umber browns were beautiful in the sunlight.

Whisper Dog enjoyed his slow, careful walk. We lost his companion, Old Dog, eighteen months ago. Whisper carries on, despite arthritis, and had his fifteenth birthday in November.

Whisper has always hated being photographed. He thinks the camera will steal his soul.

I managed to take take todays photos from a distance and while he was preoccupied!

The day`s grey blanket of storm clouds passed into the east and north, leaving us a precious hour or two of sunshine.

The trunks of old oaks on the hill are often wrapped around with their undercanopy of holly.

Roots of an oak that fell in late summer winds.

 Walking back again, through winter sunshine and long shadows........

....we passed quiet ponies who still munched holly in the shelter of trees beside the lane.