Saturday 11th January - All 12 seen

I arrived later than usual this afternoon and began by breaking the ice on the trough and removing the chunks. The water level was fine, with no issues.

The yearlings were grazing in the gorse bushes near ///rock.unwell.booms at 15:15. They quickly emerged onto the path to greet me. They were friendly, cautiously approaching to sniff my hands before accepting strokes. The boys were happy, relaxed, and in good health, with their thick winter coats keeping them warm in the bitter cold.

The ponies were found further southeast along the path near ///misfits.retain.widen at 15:30. Polly warmly welcomed me, emerging from the thicket with soft nickers as I approached. She was incredibly friendly, offering cuddles and nuzzles before settling in for a long neck rub. The other ponies were grazing nearby and gradually came over one by one to say hello and enjoy some strokes. Although the area where some of them were grazing was particularly icy, they navigated the slippery ground with ease.

After our greetings, the ponies returned to grazing but stayed close, frequently coming back for more strokes and rubs. Several enjoyed back rubs as they munched on gorse. All eight ponies were happy, relaxed, and in excellent condition. Around 16:15, the yearlings wandered along the path and began grazing in the gorse bushes near the ponies. To ensure the group had enough water, I broke the ice on several puddles along the path.

As it grew darker, I said my goodbyes at 16:30. The ponies followed me northwest along the main path, stopping in the area where the yearlings had originally been grazing to enjoy more gorse from the bushes on both sides of the path.

The cows and the ponies were good today.

Friday 10th note for weekend checks

 A small favour for those checking over the weekend to please smash up the ice in the trough. If the water is very low then please give the on-call number a ring, however I have removed the ice, and defrosted the pipes so the troughs should last all weekend

Fri 10 Jan 25 (09.00 - 09.30). Found all 4 Cattle & All 8 Ponies in L2/L3/K6 Area. All appeared well, Grazing contentedly.

 Found all 12 of the stock in just W of the Style in L2.  

I was not able to photograph all of them because some were deep in gorse and/or on the far side of deeply flooded area.  All appeared well and concentrating on eating the gorse.   One of the moderately friendly ponies came over to me for neck rubs, the others were more interested in grazing.

Thursday 9th January - Staff Check

All cattle and ponies seen this morning and all well.

The cattle were inquisitive and came for head scratches. 

The ponies were all dozing in the sun so I didn't go and give them scratches as I normally would as I don't think I'd like to be disturbed when having a nap either. 

I also fixed the snapped barbed wire that was reported a week or so ago. 

Wednesday 8th Jan, morning

 Found 3 cows in the area of ///nearly.soggy.issued  they looked well. 276 was in some thick gorse but was quite happy to have a rub whilst eating.   The other 2 were just the other side of the gorse eating heather.  I searched around but couldn't find the 4th cow.

Then found 3 of the ponies at ///asleep.weeds.cleansed.  2 were eating the gorse and heather but the 3rd was just resting.

Found the other 4 ponies at ///luck.overdrive.dummy. They were happily grazing.

I left the ponies and went back to where the cows had been.  Still couldn't find the missing one.

All cows and ponies look fine

Tuesday 7th 4 cows and 8 ponies in F6/6 at 11.15

 All together and looking well. Black cow said hello. Polly and Davinia said hello. All eating the gorse.

We saw them on the way back home sone still in F5/6 others had moved over to the back of the ammo dump.

All look fine