When I was a-trippering a few days ago with my friends, we came across a small herd of Eriskay ponies on a hill.

They caught my eye and imagination and I wanted to find out more about them.  I phoned their owner and asked if I could go and take some photos.  Permission was given (I always ask, never assume) so I thought I would pop along this morning by myself and take a few pics.

I know nothing about Eriskay ponies apart from the fact that they are rare and now there are 2 mares, 2 foals and a stallion up here in Shetland.

Armed myself with my camera, I did the usual – climbed carefully over the fence, found a suitable dry flat rock and sat down.  I would not assume to go up to a herd – I like to wait for them to come to me first.

The stallion immediately clocked me but took his time before he wended his way down the hill to talk to me.  We exchanged the time of day and I noted he was a gentle soul and yes, I kissed his nosey.  He was that type of chap.

I will definitely go back, if I am allowed. I liked these gentle ponies.  They gave me the same feeling as Icelandic horses and Shetland ponies.

There was definitely a similarity in the way they thought.  I could see that.

Anyway, enjoy the photos – this is just a small selection. As always, I took a few.

Yesterday, after sitting outside with Lambie and Lambert, we went inside to escape the midges and make a cup of tea.

Then I thought, for some miracle reason, that the midges were not going to be as bad in the pony field so, taking our tea (Lapsang Souchong no milk no sugar, thank you for asking), we went and sat down on some flat rocks and waited.

Pretty quickly two of The Minions appeared – Waffle and Storm.

They took an inordinate interest in our tea.  Mandy offered some of her’s to Waffle.

And I offered some to Storm (I love his face).

Waffle liked tea and wanted the whole cup to himself.

While Storm went a bit silly because, well because he could! Caffeine Buzz?

Hard drugs, dontcha know!

So I sent him over to Mandy.

Meanwhile Silver wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

He drank most of my tea very happily and finished it off just as Storm returned to annoy.

So I gave Storm the empty cup to play with.

I suppose that is where the phrase “Storm in a Teacup” comes from!

We all went for a lovely ride and afterwards, as it was such a gorgeous afternoon, we sat on a hill in one of my fields and thought what a wonderful place Shetland is.

As always, the dogs and Lambie and Lambert came too.

We found a nice spot (not difficult) and sat down to admire the scenery, let the dogs/sheep potter while I took close-up photos of Devil’s-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis), one of my favourite Shetland wild flowers.

This was our view.  How we suffered.

Fairly soon, Lambie decided he wanted to talk to us.

As did Lambert, who sat down behind Flossie – she said he was surprisingly comfortable.

Lambert has been quite aloof since his operation so it was lovely that he wanted to spend time with us.

When you think about it, however, who sits on a picnic rug with two sheep?

Do you think Lambie was perhaps jealous of Lambert moving in on the pet-sheep relationship?

So while Loki had fun investigating the five acre field…..

And Her Maj kept an eye on everything, in case it needed to die ….

…… Lambie and Lambert nodded off on the picnic blanket.

Lambert slept in very funny (funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha) positions.

I think you know you are loved when two sheep nod off beside you.   And you know you are an idiot when you shove up on your coat/blanket so that Lambie can have a dry place to rest as he doesn’t like wet grass very much!

And then the midges got us just that bit too much and we went home quickly.  I HATE MIDGES!

Today, I was mostly a tourist.

A wet and rainy tourist. But I haven’t been a tourist for a while so it was wonderful.

First stop was the girls – who were very, very soggy (and so were we every time we stopped the car,  got out to take photos).

Soggy.

But, I will be honest, it was a luxury to have the time to see Shetland as a passenger rather than driving from A to B.

We saw Shetland in the rain and it was still beautiful.

We met Lambie’s potential girlfriend – she (who maybe a he, not that he would mind to be honest) was gorgeous with a very alluring expression.

Autumn in Shetland is beginning to arrive and the accompanying flowers are making the effort in force before Winter makes its’ mark.

We went to places I don’t normally go.

And we stopped to take photos I don’t generally take!

So all was good and I am writing this thinking I showed my friends My Shetland – the places I find the most magical and special.

And then there was the Welcome Committee when I came home.

My boys!

Tis a magical place, Shetland.

So now Taktur and Storm wait every morning by the gate to go out into the Food Field for the morning.  It has quickly become their routine, although Storm was fast a-bye-byes next to Taktur as he had nodded off while waiting for me.

They both follow me to their new field, whereupon I went out and left them to it – I had my Tuesday morning flute lesson.

Upon my return, a few hours later, Taktur was standing all alone by the gate.  There was no one else in his field.

Two fields away, having gone under two fences and crossed one stream, was Storm.  Haakon was watching on with huge disapproval at a) Storm’s dereliction of duty and b) pure envy at the long grass he was stuffing.

So I opened the gate and shovelled Storm through before Haakon could make a bid for freedom.

And then I walked round, opened the gate to Taktur’s field where he stood “lonely as a cloud” and he followed me happily back to the original field to be with his friends.

I am quite cross with Storm.  You don’t desert your friends.

Anywho, Lambie is very well (as is Lambert).  He still loves his bottles and has no intention of giving up.  He has the same tummy clock that Jack had.  It is scarily accurate!

I have been experimenting with time-lapse photography using my GoPro.  It is work-in-progress and I have much to learn (it can also be very boring wading through hours of photography).  I tried to capture the Northern Lights a few nights back and just had hours of black!  As I said – work-in-progress!

I may need to have words with Haakon now (little sod!).