I’m trying to work out if there’s some kind of pattern to this. Yesterday, I got one hit all day; this morning, at 6am, I had six hits since midnight! So, I’m wondering if most of my readers are night-owls, of whether they live in Australia or New Zealand. If you’re in NZ, this is for you!

Around here, we have very white, chalky soil just below the grass, and, since pre-Roman times, it’s been a habit to cut gigantic figures in the hillside … mainly horses, but the ‘Cerne Abbas Giant’ has brought blushes to many a maiden’s cheek. Most of what we see was, in fact, cut from the 18^th Century onwards, by people who reckoned the earlier horses looked more like stylised greyhounds. But, around here, there are much later figures, cut after the First World War to keep soldiers awaiting demobilisation and repatriation busy.

There’s the Regimental Badges at Fovant, and the ANZAC memorial at Codford. The one at Bulford, the 420 ft. high Bulford Kiwi was cut by soldiers from New Zealand at ‘Sling Camp’ … now called Kiwi Barracks. The figure has been in the news lately because of a proposed attempt to clean it up by removing the grey gravel presently covering it, and exposing the chalk below.

Various bodies have been involved in its upkeep over the years, from the Royal Signals to the Kiwi boot-polish company. The work is being carried out by defence contractors Landmarc, with help from the local Scouts, cadets and the Bulford Conservation Group.

I hope to be able to post another photograph later in the year, when the work is completed, then we can compare.