Everyone is totally mad today.

I took Klængur out for a ride by himself and he managed to spook at two rabbits, a yellow flower and a rock that looked at him in a funny way.

To recover our nerves, I sat in the field and watched Storm talk to his best friend, BeAnne.  For once BeAnne didn’t get arsey and snap.  Instead she turned upside down and let him tickle her belly. She loves this and will employ anyone if it means they will comply.  Every time Storm stopped, she stretch out her front paws to gently push his nose back down to tickle her.  She is clever!

Later, I heard dur-dur-dur, dur-dur-dur, dur-dur-dur…..

Taktur was galloping up and down the fence as fast as he could with The Minions.

I wasn’t sure if he was going to be horrid to them so stayed to watch.

Taktur did split up the little group and picked out little Storm.  I didn’t like that and made my feelings very clear about bullying.  I was not convinced this was a good game.  Funnily enough all the little boys galloped to be behind me.

And just as quickly as they had started, they stopped totally puffed out and started grazing.

Full Moon perhaps?

I took Haakon into the school today, looked at him, looked at him some more and tried to see what was different about him.

And then I noticed – his forelock is missing.

This is Haakon a few months’ back.

And this is today, just now in the field.  His forelock has lost volume, substance and is rather straggly.

He doesn’t look like the Haakon I have known all his life.  Most strange.  A different face looks at me now.

I mean obviously Haakon does not try to attain the standards of His Frilledness.  That would be impossible.

So I asked the obvious culprits and they all denied any wrong doing.  I do believe them as Haakon doesn’t play with them ever and barely acknowledges their existence.

Storm’s forelock has always been a bit silly.

Waffle’s is a thing of great beauty.

While I was pulling out the last of the nasty bits which has resulted in a bit of a scalping for poor Silver.  Hopefully it will grow back!

And then the penny dropped.  Haakon’s forelock has only gone missing since the return of a certain black Icelandic stallion (his name begins with “T” and ends with *actur) who likes to play.  Now I am not going to jump to any conclusions and I dont suppose there is anything I can do about it anyway, but I am watching everyone like a hawk.

I liked Haakon’s forelock.  It was one of his better bits.

***** sigh *****

A Scooty Allan is the Arctic Skua (Stercorarius skua).  They are bullies and attack other birds to get their food.

A Tirrick is an Arctic Tern (Stercorarius parasiticus).  They are not without their faults and during nesting time will dive bomb with intent to peck your head.

So, I went to beach to watch them arguing together.

The Scooty Allans were trying to steal the sand-eels off the Tirricks who were happily fishing in the afternoon sun.

This is a Scooty Allan.  They have a wingspan from between 107–125 cm and they are very nifty fliers.  They may look like a Lancaster Bomber but their flight is direct and powerful.

The Tirricks are much smaller and are little zippy fighter planes – the Spitfire of the bird world.

Their favourite food is sand-eels and the Scooty Allans like to wait until the Tirricks have caught one.  They then fly in and chase the little seabirds until they drop them.

To catch the sand-eels, the tirricks dive-bomb the water, vanish for a second and then fly out triumphantly with their catch.

If you look careful at these photos, you can see the tiny sand-eels in the tirricks mouths as they emerge from the water.

The Scooty Allans depends on the other fish-catching birds for its food.  It will harass the Tirrick until it drops the food – a very spectacular air battle to watch.

So I sat in the late afternoon sun and watched them perform their aerobatics listening to the screams of rage from the indignant Tirricks and the blue clear waves gently roll onto the beach.

I had a lovely ride this afternoon with Jo. She rode Klængur and I rode Haakon – we pottered up the road and back again putting the world to rights.

Afterwards, I grabbed my camera and iPod to spend the afternoon with BeAnne, lying on my waterproof coat enjoying the sunny weather with the horses and ponies.

I love pony watching.  My favourite sport.

One thing that occurred – I watched The Minions with Iacs and the little ones started to go over the burn (stream) to the other side of the field.  Iacs gave Kappi, who was not part of the group, a very long look and Kappi left everything and strolled up.  Then Iacs left the scene and the next thing I could see was Kappi chasing the little boys back over the burn and getting them to then follow him to another part of the field.  Most odd.  You could almost hear Iacs’ and Kappi’s conversation.

It was very nice watching The Minions jump the old dry stone dyke (wall).  Waffle jumped like a stag!

And so I lay on my coat with my camera taking the odd snap of the pony politics and enjoying the warm autumn sun.

Taktur came over to stand beside me.  He was watching too in a sleepy afternoon ZZzzzz sort of way.

Next thing, he had flopped down beside me.  The iPod was playing Ólafur Arnalds (a BAFTA-winning multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland).  It is beautiful evocative music and together Taktur and I listened sleepily together for half an hour or so.

It is good to see The Minions and Taktur get on well together.  There is no aggro, no nothing really though I did see Waffle trying to have a sneaky nibble of Taktur’s back leg!

It was an interesting afternoon.

I was looking for Taktur in the field when I came across this little group.

It made me smile.  Kappi was taking his baby-sitting responsibilities very seriously though Waffle was wearing a blade of grass – he is like that.

Storm was sitting by himself looking enchanting in the long hill grass.

While  I was removing Waffle’s hair decoration, Kappi flopped down by my feet to nod off.

Well, he would’ve liked to have had 40 winks if he could….

But I doubt, somehow that little Storm was going to let him.

(Someone woke the children)

So I left them sitting in the middle of nowhere.

and eventually found Taktur waiting by the gate to be fed.  He didn’t have anything except grass while he was on his honeymoon but he has fallen back into his old routine very quickly.

Taktur has also remembered how to put his feet in the bucket to tip it up, which is a very annoying habit.  So I moved his bucket to be next to me and BeAnne and we kept him company while he ate.

He is easily distracted and tends to wander off if left by himself.

Luckily BeAnne doesn’t mind helping as she eats all the bits that fall out while he looks up to think.

I always think Taktur is my Ferdinand (my most favourite of books).

Ferdinand ran to the middle of
the ring and everyone shouted
and clapped because they
thought he was going to fight
fiercely and butt and snort
and stick his horns around.
But not ferdinand.  When he
got to the middle of the ring
he saw the flowers in all the 
lovely ladies' hair and he just
sat down quietly and smelled.
He wouldn't fight and be fierce
no matter what they did.  He 
just sat and smelled.