Sharing the air, light and landscape

The clearer weather brought out a certain sense of adventure in me, so much that I got in the car and drove up to the top of the hillside opposite our house. I had in mind to seek out the skylarks that are abundant on Minchinhampton Common and set off with my heavy tripod to setup position for some aerial shots.

Once parked on the edge of the open grassland, which is crossed by several roads, I was firstly drawn to some horses which were roaming wild on the common. As I walked towards them I noticed they were happily mingling with the cows who are the normal summer residents throughout the open landscape. There was even a tiny calf, probably only a few days old, trotting alongside its mother.

When I neared the horses, I stopped and listened for the song of a skylark, but couldn't hear one. Normally I have to hear them before I can locate where they are flying in the air or possibly nestling in the grass on the ground. It was only then when I realised that I had forgotten to take the base plate off my video camera to fix it to the tripod head. I had last used it when we filmed some frisbee throwing techniques for an incomplete project I must complete.

So I just stood and took pictures of the seven horses and the one foal that was with them. It too was very young, but not at all afraid of my presence. In fact all the adult horses (which were probably ponies in reality, as I don't know the difference) came up to me at different times whilst they munched on the fresh grass and let me stroke their heads. It was lovely to smell that horsey aroma too.

I did hear a skylark and then saw it flying high in the distance, but I wasn't tempted to look any further for them, as I was so enjoying just mingling with these animals. Much of the time we were beside the main road along the ridge, which has a lot of traffic, but all drivers know that the common's animals have right of way, so will always stop to let them cross the road. They do get a bit frustrated when a cow or horse stops in the road to graze on the verge, but only a few get ill-tempered.

the horses were very playful and excitable and several were playing at fighting each other. The foal spent a long time lying on the ground resting about ten yards from me, much like a tiny child must do after eating and playing for a while.

I had lots of pictures to choose from but Helena and I liked this one best. It is looking eastwards from the ridge towards the head of the Golden Valley formed by the River Frome. The heavy clouds in the distance had passed over just after I'd arrived so that the sun in the west could shine down and bring out the lovely colours which I have been so missing in the last few months, with all the relentless cloud and rain we've had.