Marsh pony...

I change my initial plans at the last minute, and visit Stanpit Marsh in Christchurch Harbour, Dorset, instead of a local nature reserve. It's the first time I've been there this year, and as last year, it is host to Glossy Ibis, except this time there are (apparently) three. I only see one.

No, it's the ponies that live on the marsh that get my attention this time around. I come across an official-looking chap, complete with binoculars and clip board, mumbling out loud and waving his biro around in a broad arc in an effort to count the number of the aforementioned creatures spread out before us. He is becoming exasperated by the fact they are continually on the move and they are mostly all the same colour. He makes four counts while I'm stood with him, but he can't decide whether the tally is 14 or 15. I count 15 twice, which is enough to convince me I was right the first time, and tell him so. We eventually concur, and he writes the figure in one of the columns on a form attached to his clip board.

"How many should there be?" I ask him.
"I don't know" comes his reply.

70-200mm f/2.8 Apo Sigma lens. 1/1600 second at f/5.6. - 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 400

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