Monday. During the afternoon, we gathered-in and corralled the 10 ponies at Shooters Bottom. These were then trailered up to Lullington Heath to re-join their Herd 2 companions. The exercise was something of a race as the hours of daylight decrease; luckily the ponies ‘co-operated’ with us, we only having to use headlights to dismantle the corral in the failing light. Fog or low cloud over the last couple of days has made the lookering of ponies on the high ground of the Ashdown Forest area somewhat tricky.
Wednesday. The start of several days of wet, dank and often windy weather. Today saw the 15 ponies of Herd 5 driven from Belle Tout around to Shooters Bottom. They have done an excellent job on the former site, we having grazed this early in the season so as not to risk compromising the orchid colonies there next year. We also managed to take up all the electric fencing.
Friday. While checking the ponies at Shooters Bottom, I noticed that autumn hawkbit, clustered bellflower and common centaury were still in flower. The temperatures this week have been abnormal with them reaching the upper teens on a daily basis.
Saturday. The autumn winds of the last two days have ravaged the magnificent autumn tints. This notable show of colours was due to the trees not being drought-stressed during the summer, few frosts and warm or mild temperatures up to the present time.