A herd of 11 New Forest ponies has been called in to help the conservation of one of the world’s most endangered habitats. The ponies, belonging to Ollerton builder Gavin Wagstaff, will help munch through an area of lowland heath Britain has 20% of the world’s lowland heath in 3,300-acre Sherwood Pines Forest Park, near Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, as part of a long-term project to restore heathland habitat there.
Like the New Forest, Sherwood Forest was once a royal hunting ground and was once mainly heathland, but it’s the first time grazing ponies have been used for the task. Their job is to eat through unwanted vegetation, including tree regeneration and thick grass, to allow heather to carpet the forest floor each autumn.
Andy Lowe of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust says: ‘Sheep and cattle have been used, but the big advantage of ponies is that they’ll roam far and wide, trample down the grass, and not feast on the heather.’ Forestry Commission ecologist Adrienne Bennett adds: ‘For the ponies, it’ll be a case of doing what comes naturally we’re sure they’ll feel at home.’
* For more news stories like this every week, subscribe and save
-
Uniquely unique? The Yorkshire grain silos transformed into a home that's a symphony in glass, steel and curvesAmid the beautiful countryside of North Yorkshire, on the edge of the Castle Howard Estate, The Silos is a property for which the word 'house' simply doesn't cut it. And that's not the only way in which it's made us throw out the dictionary.
-
Polluting water executives now face up to two years in prison, but will the new laws make much of a difference?The Government has announced that water company executives caught covering up illegal sewage spills could now be imprisoned for two years, under new laws — but many still have their doubts.
