A herd of Exmoor ponies has been introduced to a moorland to help boost biodiversity. The hardy ponies, which were on the brink of extinction after World War II, will roam the 51-hectare (126 acre) habitat bank in Horwich, north of Bolton. By naturally grazing and trampling the area, the ponies will tackle the spread of soft rush, a tough plant that has overtaken much of the site, and has driven out key bird species including lapwing, curlew and redshank.
It is hoped the ponies, which belong to local breeder and vet Michael Dewhurst, will also create space for wildflowers and support the return of rare and threatened plant species.
Habitat banks can offset environmental damage
Habitat banks allow developers to purchase units of land to offset the environmental impact of their projects. Developers purchase these units, which transform low-yielding farmland into nature recovery sites, when they are unable to meet their obligations to show a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) as a result of their development. BNG, which was introduced via the 2021 Environment Act, is a process that requires the habitats lost on a development site to be accounted for. Through this process, BNG aims to create more or a better-quality natural habitat than before the development.
The Horwich site, which is managed by The Environment Bank, allows housing developers to purchase more than 800 of these legally secured and registered bio-diversity units.
According to its website The Environment Bank, is ‘the nation’s leading biodiversity gains specialist, restoring habitats across England’ and they believe that the ponies’ work at the Horwich habitat bank will “not only support local biodiversity but also connect the community to a piece of Britain’s rural heritage”.
Exmoor ponies eat soft rush
A spokesman for The Environment Bank explained that the ponies enjoy soft rush, particularly at this time of year when it offers a sweet, green ‘bite’ at a time when not much else is growing. The spokesman then added,
“Exmoor ponies have been introduced to manage the extent of the soft rush on the site. Soft rush is a component species of the habitat at Horwich but there is currently too much of it and that is holding back some of the other flora we would also expect to see.
By reducing the extent of the soft rush, they’ll (the ponies) allow other species to come through and create the diversity Environment Bank is after.”
Alongside the ponies, the site is undergoing habitat restoration, including the revival of four dried-out ponds and the creation of six new ones ideal for amphibians and breeding wading birds.
A breed mentioned in the Doomsday Book
Exmoor ponies, who were mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086, have previously grazed land in conservation schemes across the UK. Including recently in Yorkshire, where four ponies were introduced to Cromwell Bottom Nature Reserve, as part of the Reviving Calderdale’s Grasslands project.
