Sunday 30th August

 Ponies gathered around the corral this morning. Some flies about but not causing too much trouble. 

Friday 28th staff check

Ponies were all around the corral when I arrived which was useful! Flam enjoying some garlic lick and the others taking a break. Kat seems quite bothered by flies this year and her coat is looking patchy on her face- something to keep an eye on. Otherwise all is well and there was a good downpour while I was there. I topped up the water at the western end again. Thanks as ever folks! 

Tuesday 25th August

 Bright and breezy and found the ponies about 100 metres along the main path, eating and moving slowly. All looked good, still lots of flies, but they didn't seem too bothered. 

I noticed with the garlic licks, that the middle section of each block was worn down, but the sides hardly touched. I think that's due to the bars holding the buckets up, i.e. they can't get their noses passed it. Might need  the alignments adjusting, if that's even possible?

Wednesday 26th

 4 ponies were a few hundred meters down the lower path, grazing and browsing, looking sleek. Hoopy had the most flies on her face and was a bit over inquisitive. We'd searched high and low for them so it was about 11.45 when we found them. All 3 troughs full, a muntjack crossed the main path in front of me. As we were leaving we met Chris finishing his butterfly count.

Sunday 23rd August

 Another nice morning. Ponies out and about on the track from the lower trough looking for food in the dry landscape. Some fairly vigorous mutual grooming between Kat and Doune.

Thursday 20th August

 A bit cooler this morning.  I arrived to find one, possibly Kat, enjoying the garlic and exuding prize-winning equine halitosis.  The others were spread out about 150m away in the open area beyond the trough and grazing.  All looking very well. The cooler weather and breeze may have helped, but no obvious trouble from flies.

Trough near entrance was fine - I didn't go to the top one.

Wednesday 19th

 4 ponies were a few hundred meters up the track. They all looked well, though Hoopy is a bit droopy. Not too many flies. Then they headed down to the licks. Trough full. Good to have rain at last.

Tuesday 18th August

A breezy and humid morning on the Hill, with the ponies grazing at the top end of the site. Well trying anyway, doesn't seem to be many juicy green shoots yet. Still flies about but as many. All looking okay. 

Sunday 16th August

 A much cooler day on the hill this morning. The ponies were making their way to the corral to boost their garlic intake. 

Friday 15th

All 4 looking good. 

Garlic licks placed out in corral, hopefully will help keep the flies off

Saturday 15th August

Breezy and a bit cooler on the Hill today, and found the ponies at the top gate. Presumably they'd gone up there to listen to Boomtown. They were in a bit of a tetchy and jumpy mood, especially Flam for once. So gave them plenty of space, but noticed a chunk of hair missing from Hoopy's flank near her right shoulder. Looks like a nip to me. Skin looks fine though. A few flies but not so many, although a lot were clustered in the centre of Doune's face, she wouldn't let me get close enough to swish them away and check if there was something going on underneath them. But other than that all looking good, maybe Boomtown kept them awake last night which has made them tetchy. 

Thursday 13th Aug

 Phew!  Seriously warm this morning, and not helped by the ponies being difficult to find.  2 were down below the corral, and further on there was another - but No 4 (possibly Kat) was nowhere to be seen.  The 3 were very friendly and gradually moved from grazing in the sun to the shade of the tree by the corral, and I decided to wait and see if she appeared.    After about 20 minutes of one-way conversation, she did appear - kicking up dust on the path but not quite in Lone Ranger style.  And so finally - all seemed well, despite quite a few flies.  Both troughs were fine.

Wednesday 12th

 8.15. 4 ponies were in an orderly queue for the trough, which was full. They all looked fine and there weren't too many flies yet. 

From there they went to the corral. Lots of roadside litter we didn't have a bag for. 

Tuesday 11th August

A warm morning and it was no surprise to find the ponies huddled in the corral area. Flies didn't seem so bad yet, but it was still heating up. Kat came over for a sniff, but after a bit Doune nudged her and told her to keep away. The three youngsters were gathered together with Hoopy a bit on the edge of the group. Apart from the flies and looking a bit sorry for themselves all seemed okay. 

Sunday 9th August

 Another hot one today. Ponies munching off the main track. Flies beginning to gather!

8th August 2026

Warm morning and initially no sign of the ponies, but when I got back from the sheep, Hoopy and Doune were in the corral and Kat and Flam a little bit further back along the bottom track. Kat and Flam had lots of flies, but not so bad in the corral. All looked well. 

Friday 7th August

​All the ponies being less bothered by the flies today . All by the entrance in the shade, no issues. Both troughs full . 

Thursday 6th August

A cooler morning and the ponies were out grazing, spread out quite widely, although just about within sight of each other, some 200-300m from the main gate and downhill a little.  They didn't seem too troubled by flies this morning - but no whiffs of garlic detected.  All seemed well. Trough near main gate was fine and I didn't get to the top trough.

Wednesday 5th

9.45, 4 ponies were in the corral, caught a whiff of garlic but the containers were empty. They all looked well, eyes ok, quite a few flies, mainly on Kat. Her forehead looked a little bit mangey. Trough was full. 

Garlic update!

Hi all, I am off on leave for 2 weeks so thought I should update you. I have temporarily stored 3 licks inside the fenced-out enclosure around the water tank at the western entrance. I can't give the ponies full access as they will get through the supply so fast! I am hoping that Tom will give them full access when he runs a work party on Friday 14th but unless you are spending some time on site, please just leave the licks in there for the moment. Do please check that the ponies haven't managed to get in and steal them though!! Hoping all will be ok with the lovely ponies in my absence but you have all the other staff numbers. It is probably best to ring Tom Graham if there is an issue - his number is on the main blog. Thanks all for your continued checks!

Monday 3rd - staff check

I had bought some proper garlic lick holders so thought i'd install 4 in the corral.  It took quite a while in the heat 🥵 with pony onlookers.. opened the gate to let the ponies in and within a minute Flam had ripped one of the holders off that I'd screwed tovthe sode of the corral! It clearly wasn't a good enough job!

Hoopy is the only civilised pony amongst the lot is my conclusion after watching them for 10 minutes! She is happy to just lick a mineral lick, whereas the others bite at them, try to pick them up and run off with them, and try and break the holders!! So my plan hasn't really worked very well and I will have to take the licks off site again.  Still a lot of flies about and Hoopy affected more than the others but all their eyes do look ok.  Carnage in the pony lick area too after the weekend - all their empties were strewn across the site - hooligans! Water supply tooped up today too.

Tuesday 4th August

The ponies were on the hill close to the main gate, and amongst the dry grasses. And covered in flies, especially Hoopy. All seemed well. At the end of my butterfly survey they were back in the corral, again covered in flies. The blue hanging buckets were all empty, not sure if they should be or not. 

Sunday 2nd August

 The ponies were gathered by the corral this morning. They were rather restless and a bit grumpy. Flies less of a bother.

Saturday 1st August

Well, mild garlic-lick carnage! Found the ponies in the garlic-lick area (the first gladed area you come to on the fence line path). Flam had her head stuck in one of the buckets still attached to the fence, coming up every now and then to breath with a frenzied look on her face. I found three more buckets, 2 x blue and one black one. The black one and its contents appeared untouched. The other buckets were empty and partially destroyed 😂. I found one of the licks in the hedge, covered in grasses, so managed to right in and put it back in a blue bucket. Disgusting 😀. No sign of the last remaining lick and the yellow container was empty too, so either they've finished it off or its hidden somewhere in the undergrowth. But they seemed okay, the multiple licks is a great idea and reduced the tension amongst them, so all relatively calm and looking well. And the lick will hopefully keep the flies away, but it definitely keeps me at bay!!

Please form an orderly queue....

is that a face of utter contentment?