deer – derrickjknight

Birds And Deer

A cold, largely overcast, day kept Jackie in the greenhouse and me reading ‘The Cunning Man’ until after lunch when we ventured out on a forest drive.

In the morning the Assistant Photographer pictured a couple of buzzards hovering overhead, and

causing consternation to jackdaws nesting in our unused chimney.

A most decorative new thatch with a coloured straw pheasant has been added to Heather Cottage at Rockford.

It will be interesting to see how the deer occupying the field below Gorley Common which is up for sale as a paddock will cope with horses arriving to share the pasturage.

This evening we dined on spicy lemon chicken, Jackie’s wholesome savoury rice, and tender runner beans with which we finished the Fiano Salento.

Up North For Lunch

Our misty dawn soon developed into a day of sunshine sending us on a trip to The Potting Shed at Hyde for lunch.

Looking down from the hill at Gorley Common. This first gallery is mine;

and here is Jackie’s set.

These two cyclists did well to scale the hill unaided, and I was able to congratulate them on this when we discovered that they shared our destination.

The lunch was really good. Mine involved steak and ale pie, peas, chips, and gravy; Jackie’s, baked potato with a shredded cheese filling, salad and coleslaw. The service was as friendly as usual.

Afterwards we enjoyed a closer view of the deer at the bottom of the hill. The first two pictures in this gallery are mine; the next two are by

Jackie, who also produced these catkins,

and this mini photo story of the pony who left some of her hair on a barbed wire fence under which she stretched before wandering off down the road to converse with field ponies feeding on hay.

When four female pheasants dashed across the road in front of us I managed to focus on one.

Given what we consumed for lunch, a light egg mayonnaise salad sufficed for our evening meal.

Despite the bright blue sky’s sunny aspect this was one of the coldest of either this year or the last; we therefore wrapped up well after Jackie had scraped ice off the windscreen and, with enough of the surface rain seeped off the roads, set off splashing on a forest drive in the middle of the afternoon.

With ice having formed on its pools,

and snow visible on the hilly land beyond the five-barred gate,

it was apparent that someone had sped home with cold feet – or at least one.

With her blessing I converted this picture Jackie produced of the ice into an abstract monochrome.

The pool along Forest Road reflected the weather.

Jackie also photographed mistletoe and

the stream along the Hightown road which had been one of the floods which had turned us back a few days ago as it surged across the road.

Further along this lane as I was trying to assess whether I would be able to photograph a troop of deer near the top of a hill, they were

suddenly spooked, and helpfully came dashing down to be well within my range, if somewhat obscured by a wooden fence. Jackie added the fourth picture in this gallery.

It had been two dogs rushing backwards and forwards on the other side of the wire fence, no doubt seeking a gap allowing them to reach their prey. A horse and rider came into view. No doubt they were protecting their land from feared cervine ravages.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s cottage pie, cauliflower, carrots, runner beans , and red cabbage, with which she drank Diet Coke and I drank more of the Shiraz.

Gorley Hill

This afternoon we drove to the north of the forest.

Anna Lane is just one of the lanes we negotiate on our trips, so narrow that traffic spans the centre leaving it free of wheels and therefore grass-covered soil untouched in the middle. When you meet an oncoming vehicle one has to end up on the verge.

From the road up to Gorley Common we looked down on

deer which today didn’t sniff a scent of us;

can you spot this baby hiding behind its mother?

The Common, with its distant view is all that remains of

“Gorley Hill … the site of a former Iron Age promontory hillfort located in Hampshire in the United Kingdom.

The fort once occupied the southwestern corner of Gorley Common on Gorley Hill, a gravel-capped spur that points southwest into the Avon valley next to the hamlet of North Gorley, between the towns of Fordingbridge and Ringwood. The earthworks were destroyed in the 1950s and ’60s when the common’s new owners carried out large-scale gravel extraction works, effectively “scalping” the hill. The tall linear earthen banks present on the hill are a relic of the quarrying process and not prehistoric in origin.^[1]The site is now grass, with some gorse and silver birch. The area is now owned and managed by Hampshire County Council.

Heywood Sumner carried out some excavation at the site which was published in his 1917 book Ancient Earthworks of the New Forest.^[2]“

This evening we dined on Jackie’s authentic chicken jalfrezi and mushroom rice, with which I finished the Alentejano.

Abbotswell Picnic

On this temperate morning we drove into the forest and picnicked

looking down at distant ponies and cattle in the view from the heights of Abbottswell.

A pony and foal were at home on the moorland beside Holmsley Passage.

Although no rain fell today

many roads were awash after the heavy overnight rain. Vehicles drove through pools at Stuckton, and the ford at Frogham harboured a swift-flowing stream.

This horse-drawn trap must have avoided the roadwater at Stuckton.

Deer dotting the slopes of Blissford Hill appeared to feel happily safe. This gallery is mine; the next

is Jackie’s showing the landscape including the deer and a garden.

The Assistant Photographer also pictured a lone thrush, a trio of hares,

and at North Gorley the same number of donkeys.

Needing to find a local Indian takeaway to replace Red Chilli, we chose to dine this evening at Rokali’s in Ashley in order to check out the food. This turned out to be good decision.

The atmosphere and service was very friendly, the food well cooked and plentiful – in fact ordering both onion bahjis and paratha was a dish too far for us.

We were early enough for Jackie to take interior photographs without worrying about privacy.

Here is the bar and the menu wallet.

We always make the paratha test when visiting a new restaurant. Rokali’s passed this. Real roses embellished each table.

Our shared special rice , onion bahjis, paratha, and salad were all very good. Chutneys were left with us. Shiny perspex studs decorated the chairs.

Jackie enjoyed her steaming ponir shaslick, as did I my prawn Bengal, although the photograph was not in focus. She drank Diet Coke and I drank alcohol free Kingfisher.

We were treated to the music of Bollywood emanating from the kitchen radio.

Avian Backing Notes

We were out early enough in the forest this morning to be held up by children being delivered to schools.

Against the soundtrack of a distant cuckoo’s call ponies breakfasted on the moorland alongside Holmsley Passage, further along which

lay a foal alongside its dam, until I approached too close for comfort, sending it to seek security from her flanks and source of nourishment.

More ponies, still shaggy in winter coats, were gathering on the green at N. Gorley, where a local resident gathered fresh manure with bucket and spade. Here the avian backing notes were provided by the cawing of vociferous rooks.

Jackie photographed a herd of deer lounging beneath trees at Gorley Common. They can be seen roughly central in the first picture.

En route to Ogden’s North her next subject was a rabbit seemingly paralysed at the roadside. She produced the next two in this gallery

while I photographed the rippling stream, its shallow bed, and its clear reflections.

It was the crowing of roosters that rent the air at Hockey’s Farm Shop

where Jackie photographed some shaggy alpacas.

This afternoon I added a lengthy P.S. to https://derrickjknight.com/2021/09/21/a-knights-tale-36-some-schoolmasters/ consisting of further memories of Wimbledon College teachers e-mailed to me by Keith Prince, who joined the school two years after me.

This evening we dined on tasty haddock fish cakes; piquant cauliflower cheese; creamy mashed potato and crunchy carrots, with which I drank more of the Merlot.

Woodland, Deer, And Thatching

This morning, before the rain set in later, we bought a replacement Dyson vacuum cleaner at New Milton Electrical Centre, then set off for a forest drive.

It seems hard to believe that the worst of the potholes in Beckley Common Road have been filled in, but many, like these have been left.

Fallen and damaged trees proliferate along Bolderwood Ornamental Drive.

A number of shaggy ponies adorned the landscape at Appleslade,

where Jackie photographed deer on a hillside.

On our way home we diverted to Hockey’s Farmyard Café for lunch,

and afterwards passed the Elm Tree pub with its completed thatching, which Jackie also photographed..

This evening we all dined on Ashley fish, chips, onion rings, mushy peas, and curry sauce augmented by Garner’s pickled onions and Freshona pickled gherkins, with which I finished the Malbec.

Rescued From The Rain

On this dreary but dry morning, developing on our way home into a dreary wet one, Jackie and I combined a successful search for open provision stores with a forest drive.

It was not until we reached South Gorley that a group of soggy ponies presented us with photo opportunities. The last two pictures, in front of the red house, are Jackie’s.

Two friendly equestriennes with an accompanying guide, smiled and passed on.

There wasn’t much more sign of life on this first day of 2024, until the Assistant Photographer spotted a group of deer through hedges in the vicinity of Gorley Common, and produced the first five pictured in this gallery, after which I managed the last three.

Jackie also photographed a lichen laden tree limb.

Ian had returned home to Southbourne shortly before lunch.

This afternoon Jacqueline visited with her son, our nephew James and his daughter, our great niece Illiari. Of all the stories of reminiscence the this visit promoted, the most amazing was told by Becky.

One day of driving rain late in 1997 or early ’98, covered head down as she struggled in a bus queue to gather tiny Flo and manage to enter the public transport vehicle, a young man with a child just a year older than hers left his place and helped her onto the bus. He, too, had his head down, so neither recognised the other. When they straightened up for Becky to thank him, her mouth fell open as she cried “James!”. Her cousin was equally stunned as he recognised his own similar relative. Illiaria was incubating chicken pox at the time. About ten days later Flo came out in spots.

The two young children had not seen each other again until today. The header picture is of James when he was just a little older than was Illiari on the day in question.

This evening we dined on succulent roast chicken thighs; crisp Yorkshire pudding; creamy mashed potato; crunchy carrots; firm cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank Zinfandel USA 2021.

Muted Colour

Grey ponies beside Whitemoor Pond on our morning forest drive

blended perfectly with the colour of the day.

Even the autumn leaves and bracken looked washed out,

and the rippling reflections on the surface above the rust-coloured bed of Ober Water, were not exactly scintillating.

Ponies and a foal foraged alongside

Rhinefield Road.

A herd of deer could be seen in the distance from Lower Sandy Down.

We lunched at Fleur de Lys, photographed here on a much brighter day, after which I drafted a review for Secret Diners, of which this is a copy: https://derrickjknight.com/?p=205521&preview=true which may require some editorial editing.

This evening we all dined on further portions of yesterday’s pasta meal with the addition of plentiful spinach, with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Malbec.

Wild Animals

Thousands of pictures of New Forest ponies feature in my posts. Although they are owned by commoners with pasturing rights they are all wild animals and roam free throughout the year.