Yesterday, we gathered in and transported 18 ponies from the heathy expanses of Ashdown down to their winter quarters at Castle Hill National Nature Reserve, high up on the rolling, salt-tinged South Downs near Brighton. The Old Lodge Nature Reserve volunteers teamwork excelled as always with the gathering and corral erection. Loading proceed very well with even Pip going up the tailboard without the usual coercion.
I called in on them this afternoon, which was warm and sunny, after the thick fog on the Downs this morning when they couldn’t be located. Within 24 hours of arriving, their topknots are now knotted with the burred seeds of agrimony (Sussex name, ‘church steeples’). There’s no chance of them going hungry here! It’s noticeable this week, that they’re winter coats are growing apace.