As the Sussex Pony Grazing & Conservation Trust is probably about to cease operation, lets send them out on a well pubicised high! Help Simon King, John Craven and Cerys Matthews to choose the favourite to feature on the front cover of the 2020 Countryfile Calendar. So ring the tel number below to register your vote for the Exmoors grazing at Belle Tout!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/…/the-countryfile-photographic-compet…
My choice is: ‘Pony Trek’ by Ashley Hemsley.
Postscript to this thread: I recently sent this e-mail to BBC Countryfile concerning the winning entry.
“Dear Countryfile,
I have lived and worked in conservation for 40 years…
The person who won the public Countryfile photo vote took her photo in a studio. The judges knew this but we the public did not and when we were asked to vote this information was not disclosed. It may have been on the website but a lot of people, like me, vote with their hearts when they watch the programme. The picture chosen to grace the cover of the Countryfile calendar is very good but as it was a staged photo in a studio it just can’t compete with the pictures taken in a natural environment. I find this completely unacceptable; entries should only be considered that are caught live in the wild, outside theatre of the countryside.
To use that dreadful term, this entry amounts to fake news!”