Castle Bottoms newest residents are 6 New Forest ponies, which arrived on-site on Saturday afternoon. They seem very healthy and good-natured, and we are all looking forward to getting to know them better in the coming months. More details about the looking programme and the initial training session will be sent in an email soon, so if you are interested in helping out again this year, please do get in touch!
All the best,
The Rangers
Hi
ReplyDeleteWe walked up to Castle Bottom yesterday evening to see the ponies. We wandered around the site and eventually found 5 and then the smallest pony with the unusual markings on either side of the steps down from the Blackbushe gate to the water. All grazing happily and not too worried about our presence. Although unable to commit to "Lookering" this year will report on the blog if we are there and see them. Good luck and hope they don't become too elusive like the cattle in previous years!
Found all 6 ponies grazing in area 3. All looked well. One had an untidy mane, but we could not get near to help him out, but pushing through undergrowth will tidy him up!
ReplyDeleteHi Yvonne and Carol and Bill,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for continuing to support us by checking on the ponies, your assistance is much appreciated and we hope that you enjoying your time out on the site! We will also be checking in on and updating their progress on this blog, apologies for the slow start this year.
All the ponies were seen yesterday (after a long search!), and on Sunday, and all appear healthy and happy on the site. The end gate has also been repaired since a piece of timber restricting full opening had been broken off.
All the best,
The Rangers
Went looking this evening dodging the rain and found all the ponies walking through the bushes on the path leading to the stairs near the bridge. They all looked very happy and healthy enjoying all the green coming through. They were rather lively and quickly moved on following up the path to the corral.
ReplyDeletePonies were seen at approximately 11am on sunday 16/06/13. All were looking lively, fine and grazing happily.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, The Rangers.
Ponies seen this morning, all looking very healthy!
ReplyDeleteFri 21st June - 11:30am
ReplyDeleteFound all the ponies grazing in area 13. They all looked fine. As we continued our walk we saw the ponies galloping through the trees in area 7/8.
23rd June 2013
ReplyDeleteHi there, we really enjoyed our volunteer walk today. All the ponies looked healthy and it was lovely to meet them! Here are some suggested names for the ponies;
Black pony with spotty hindquarters-Speckle
Brown pony with 2 white feet-Socks
Brown pony with stripe on face-Twigs
Black pony with white blaze-Blaze
Brown pony with white face and yellow mane-Blondie
Brown pony with black legs and no marking-Joey
Hope you like them! Thanks again for the introduction to the site and hope to be going back soon.
Hi Gemma and Emily,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog and thanks for naming the ponies! We'll be uploading the Pony ID page shortly so I'll add the names to it.
The ponies were all seen yesterday as we were undertaking reptile surveys, they were very curious about the Rangers van so weren't too hard to find! All looking happy and healthy.
All ponies seen today, all happy and healthy in area 7.
ReplyDeleteAll ponies seen today (Saturday) around 5pm grazing happily in the sunshine. We think they were in area 7, though we're not very good with your map yet! We went through Coopers Hill entrance, through gate along main path straight ahead, across wooden bridge at dip in the path and up the hill - ponies were off to the right in wide open green space and we could see the top of a white building through the trees - sorry, hope that helps with location! Only point to mention is that we thought Joey looked like he/she had lots of little bumps over his/her coat - not sure if these were bites or where he/she had been caught on bushes - not an expert on horses, but thought we would let you know anyway.
ReplyDelete8th July 10:00am
ReplyDeleteFound all the ponies grazing down by the river between areas 1 and 4. They were in amongst the bog myrtle plants. It is quite boggy there and the bog myrtle probably keeps the flies away. All the ponies looked fine.
18th July - 11:00am
ReplyDeleteEventually found all the ponies sheltering from the sun under the trees in area 7. They moved off as we approached - all looked well.
Just testing today saw ponies last wed and met up with Natalie on the way.
ReplyDeleteAll ponies seen today, all fine and healthy. The speckled pony was actually outside the fence when we got there... after having been informed by a member of the public that one had escaped and couldn't get back in, we went and safely escorted him back through the gate into the site! The other ponies all seemed very glad to have him back, and he seemed a little nervous about being separated from the others, so hopefully he won't be jumping the fence again. The more lookers keeping check on the animals the better, so that we can track the ponies whereabouts and get there quickly should anything happen, so thank you all for your help!
ReplyDeletehi checked the ponies this afternoon and they all looked fine.They were very easy to find today happily grazing near the junction of the paths. Quite a lot of flies but they don't seem to be too bothered by them.
ReplyDeleteHiya,
ReplyDeleteAll ponies looked fine and were grazing happily when I checked them earlier. They were grazing where areas 3,4 and 6 meet (I think).
Regards,
Josie
Hi,
ReplyDeleteChecked ponies today and all looked fine and were grazing happily.
Josie
28th July - 11:30am
ReplyDeleteFound the ponies grazing in area 4. They looked fine, apart from being bothered by flies, but they probably expect that on a hot sunny day. Saw 2 kites flying over the area.
Sun 28-Jul-2013 P.S.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention that we found a damaged fence near the gate in area 7 on the southern boundary.
The top wire of the fence had been broken.
We made a temporary fix by hand, but it should be properly repaired some time.
Hi enjoyed the walk today as it was a bit cooler. Chestnut pony was grazing on his own but trotted off through he trees to find the others. I found all ponies by the top of the path going down to the stream, All looked fine still a lot of flies about but they don't seem to be to bothered by them. Speckle showed a great deal of interest in Furgus my dog.
ReplyDelete