After several weeks of intellectually demanding and mentally exhausting work, we decided to go away on a short break. To the New Forest.
One of the first things that struck us as we drove into the area was the presence of horses roaming freely and nibbling whatever they chose to nibble by the side of the road.
One day, after visiting an exciting steam fair, the husband was chuffed to bits to spot these pigs (picture above).
They were very clean pigs, and we believe they were probably the same ones that caused a bit of a stir when they ran across a section of the field where the steam fair was taking place.
Apart from horses and pigs we were also visited by a herd of deer every afternoon in the field next to our hotel. The stag was especially noisy, and they appeared to be roaming around there till the early hours of the morning.
On the day that we were returning to Oxfordshire we met up with an ex-colleague and at the Lyndhurst Heritage Centre learned about the practice of pannage.
Acorns were falling with abundance. These are toxic to the wildlife that roam the forests. However, pigs are immune to the toxicity and pannage is the practice of local pig owners being allowed to let their pigs roam and root for acorns, See link here.
It was an eye-opener for me that people and animals are able to co-exist so harmoniously. We came across a horse on the road. It refused to budge. Motorists just simply had to stop and wait. No panic. No honking. Just patience, knowing that the oncoming traffic will clear, and one could drive safely around the animal in due course.
If only we are always so gracious and mindful of the needs of others.
[Before this song was appropriated by a certain soft drink company: https://youtu.be/sXOG_NUNQhc]
Blessings!