Grazer of the Week 26th July; Sorrel the Exmoor Pony

Exmoor Ponies WTSWW PONT Cymru Grazer of the Week Brecknock Cae LindenBeautiful Sorrel the Exmoor pony is this weeks’ PONT Cymru Grazer of the Week.

Sorrel and her field mate Amber graze at Cae Lynden Nature Reserve near Ystradgynlais. The site is leased from Powys County Council and the Cwm Wanderers Football Club

Once their football pitch, the land is now an important nature reserve, managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

Exmoor ponies are a primitive British breed, small and light but very tough! This makes them perfect for conservation grazing projects, as well as in their ancestral home in Exmoor National Park.

Rhos Pasture

The habitat here is Rhos pasture. Purple moor grass and rush characterise this typical Welsh habitat. Devil’s-bit scabious is also a typical plant of this habitat. The combination of tussocky purple moor grass and the food plant devil’s-bit scabious creates habitat for the threatened marsh fritillary butterfly.

Cae Lynden Rhos pasture with Devil's Bit Scabious PONT Cymru grazer of the week

Cae Lynden Nature Reserve

Inappropriate management threatens Rhos pasture in Wales. This includes over-grazing, drainage, lack of grazing and fragmentation. The Exmoor ponies maintain the habitat in optimum condition here at Cae Lynden.

Local retired vets Ruth and David Thomas breed Exmoor ponies. They have been helping WTSWW (formerly Brecknock Wildlife Trust) with conservation grazing for many years.  David and Ruth have provided stock checker training for reserves wardens and are very accommodating in adapting to changes in grazing regimes.

Do you need assistance with a conservation grazing project? Contact PONT.

Would you like to show off your grazing animals? You can enter your animals for the chance to feature as ‘Grazer of the Week’ by using #grazeroftheweek and tagging @pontcymru on Instagram and Facebook. Tell us a bit about you and your animals, we love to hear your stories.

By tagging PONT Cymru in your photos you agree that they can be used on our website and shared on social media at a later date with a credit.

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