Part of the Flexigraze conservation grazing scheme, the ponies will have free rein over the 600 acre site for the foreseeable future as part of the Trust’s management plan for the reserve.

Ponies are perfect conservation grazers as their hooves churn up the ground creating open areas for seeds to germinate, thereby allowing plants to grow, which will, in turn, attract a variety of bees and birds.

In due course, Flexigraze cattle will also be reintroduced to the site and between them and the ponies, they will provide the type of grazing the reserve needs.

Benshaw Moor, near Elsdon, is all about big skies and magnificent vistas; there are burns, springs and even a limestone-stepped waterfall. It is home to otters, dragonflies, butterflies and adders. 

Curlews, skylark and meadow pipit nest and visitors to the site can catch a glimpse of short-eared owls as they hunt over the moorland. 

The abundance of plants found on the moor is stunning and include bogbean, butterwort, limestone-bedstraw, grass of Parnassus, and bog species such as cranberry, sphagnum mosses and round-leaved sundew.

The ponies have been provided by the Moorland Mousie Trust in Exmoor.

The grazing has been made possible thanks to the installation of new perimeter fencing which was funded by a generous private donation.