Animals On Roads

This morning I watched a recording of last night’s rugby World Cup match between New Zealand and Italy.

Later, Jackie and I took a forest drive, stopping at Hockey’s Farm Café for brunch.

Ponies enjoyed ambling ahead of traffic at Bramshaw, or standing in its way at North Gorley.

Donkeys were everywhere: ahead of ponies at Bramshaw;

blocking the road at Nomansland;

engaged in mutual grooming at Piper’s Wait;

and wandering Fritham’s woodland,

along with what I think was an Old English Game chicken.

The usual grunting Gloucester Old Spots snuffled in haste competing for mast at North Gorley. The sign in the first picture in this gallery warns visitors that pigs are roaming free.

Later I watched the matches between Argentina and Chile and between Fiji and Georgia.

This evening we all dined on roast pork, sage and onion stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, boiled new potatoes, carrots, and broccoli, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I finished the Grenacha Old Vines.

74 comments

  2. So many animals on the roads, that would be frustrating. I hope they aren’t hit and killed. Dinner sounds so good! ????????❤️

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    1. Unfortunately a number of the animals do die. They don’t bother us because we are so seldom in a hurry. Thanks very much, John

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  4. I love pannage season and all the pigs, ponies and animals roaming about. The mutually grooming donkeys are adorable! Nothing like a good scratch! The Old English Game rooster is a handsome fellow. I looked them up. They are very beautiful specimens of the chicken world. And of course my favorite Gloucester Old Spot pigs. Watch your trousers, Derrick! 🙂

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    1. Not at all. The signs outside Hockey’s will soon be advertising pannage pork – it changes the flavour a bit.

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    1. They have been a mixed lot. Fiji v Namibia was two halves; those one-sided games are inevitable in the pool stages, of course. Thanks a lot, Tootlepedal

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  12. I know there are signs encouraging people to go slow and watch out for the animals, but I still worry a bit. If I lived there, I’d probably be advocating for large billboards. WATCH OUT FOR THE ANIMALS ON THE ROAD!

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    1. There are some of those, too – with figures of animal deaths. Thanks very much, JoAnna.

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    1. Thanks very much, Sylvie. It is looking pretty good for both the French and New Zealanders, which should please you 🙂

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  14. Lovely, lovely pics. Do you take the pics from inside the car or get down in between halting the drive?

    The yellow plated cars are commercial taxis? In our country, commercial cabs and taxis have yellow number plates.

    Why the warning about pigs? Do they attack?

    Too many questions.

    But again very beautiful pics giving glimpses of serene and scenic English Countryside.

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    1. Thank you very much, Geeta. Sometimes, like the first ponies, shots are taken through the car windscreen on the move – otherwise I disembark. Yellow number plates are fixed on the rear of all cars. The pigs don’t attack, but they can cause havoc running about the roads

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  15. Why only the pigs, even the donkeys are roaming free. However, I am intrigued by the lone chicken meandering the woodland proudly and wonder where did he break free from.

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  18. It must have been Donkey Day…Ha! So many of them! A coffle, a band, a herd! 🙂
    I enjoy the pigs and the ponies, too!
    And Mr. Rooster looks large and in-charge! I wonder if he crossed any roads. (wink, wink) Ooh…or maybe he took the road less traveled. 🙂
    (((HUGS))) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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    1. The latter, Alys. They are very excitable and small enough for drivers not to see them with their noses to the ground. Thanks very much.

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      1. Ah. Thanks for explaining. From what I’ve read, pigs are highly intelligent creatures. I think they’re adorable. That said, horses, cats, dogs, birds, pigs, and on and on, have no frame of reference genetically for the automobile.

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