Grazer of the Week this week is Lilly Longtail, a Badger faced sheep who grazes at Gwent Wildlife Trust Silent Valley Nature Reserve.

Silent Valley is a SSSI and part of the Eastern Valleys Living Landscape. The reserve is important for woodland and it’s ancient anthill meadows but the anthills present a management challenge as they mean that it’s not possible to use machines for the management.

This is where the sheep come in! Owned by Gwent Wildlife Trust, these beautiful badger faced sheep do a great job over winter of grazing the habitat to ensure it stays in great condition. Regular grazing ensures the persistence of violets, which is important because they are the food plant of the small pearl bordered fritillary butterflies which can be found here.

If you need advice on conservation grazing, PONT can help.

Don’t forget that you can submit your conservation grazing animals as our Grazer of the Week by posting to Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #grazeroftheweek, tagging @pontcymru