Suffolk Wildlife Trust will be complementing its heathland grazing sheep flock with five Exmoor ponies which have made the long journey down from Northumberland where they have been grazing a lowland heath successfully for three years (the ponies previously came from Exmoor where they were born).

The ponies have a good temperament, are small, very hardy and the rarest of our British native breeds – there are less than 1200 Exmoors in the world making them rarer than the Giant Panda although less selective in their eating habits! Although semi wild, the ponies have been bucket trained and will follow a bucket into a pen which make them easier to handle.

The addition of the ponies will reduce the need for machinery on the heathland and because they are hardier than sheep it is hoped that they will be able to spend all year out on the heaths.

Since the 1930s, 80% of Suffolk’s unique Sandlings heaths have been destroyed through farming, forestry and development. Half of the remaining habitat became overgrown as traditional sheep farming and firewood cutting declined. Through the reintroduction of grazing the heathland landscape is making a comeback, providing the perfect environment for a rich variety of wildlife including the silver studded blue butterfly, stonechat, nightjar and woodlark.

The new arrivals come from the Moorland Mousie Trust, a charitable trust set up to preserve the ponies and ensure that the moor breeders go on breeding by giving them a realistic price for their colt foals. These foals are wild and require handling and gelding which costs money and requires expertise which the MM Trust provides.

The Exmoor grazing is part of a wider package of heathland restoration in the Sandlings which has been supported by the SITA Trust through the Landfill Communities Fund. This funding has also allowed the Trust to employ stockperson Jane Barber on a full-time basis to handle the additional responsibilities of managing the ponies.
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