Beautiful start to the day. Early breakfast at Stoney Cross with my husband watching the sunrise and listening to the dawn chorus. We shared the parking with the racing pigeons. The gentle coo's where somehow hypnotic.
We had a meander across the aerodrome in the morning golden light as the sun started to rise. The fallow bucks quietly roamed the grassland in the distance with the woodland birds entertaining them with a medley of song. Then the sure sign of greater weather, the call of my first cuckoo of the year!
A kestrel hovered and swallows dived as a red kite swooped and stonechats "banged their stones."
Heading back to the car, the lads where removing the pigeon boxes from the truck, which the ponies found fascinating! We stopped for a chat and shared in their delight as they told us of their night in the cab on such a beautiful night accompanied by the full moon and nocturnal animals.
The drive home was full of optimism and sunshine, being driven I watched the passing landscape with window open and wind on my face hearing the calls of lapwings, snipe and curlew as we pass the deep and wild heath and returned home for coffee in the garden before the forest lanes became a bustle of others observing in awe the beauty and wonder of the New Forest. 🌳💖
