Carneddau ponies enjoy a conservation site near Talacre

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Their owner, Berwyn Jones, has urged holidaymakers and locals to be more responsible and not treat the countryside as a playground. Berwyn runs a conservation grazing business that improves wildlife habitats at several sites around North and Mid Wales.

He works with RSPB Cymru, Natural Resources Wales and North Wales Wildlife Trust, and has a team of more than 60 ponies redeployed from the Carneddau mountains in Snowdonia, reports North Wales Live.

One of the sites they graze is a 40-acre parcel of marshland and sand dunes running from Presthaven Sands to Talacre lighthouse, Flintshire.

It is part of the Gronant Dunes and Talacre Warren SSSI, the only site in Wales that’s home to natterjack toads.

A fortnight ago, Berwyn received an evening telephone call to say six Carneddau ponies were at risk from fire nearby.

“When I got there, the flames were 50ft high and the ponies had gathered in a corner by the fencing,” he said.

For the next hour, he watched on helplessly from a distance as firefighters attempted to beat back the flames.

Moving the ponies further from the fire was an option – but a dangerous one: instead Berwyn placed his faith in the fire service.

“The worry was that the wind would change direction and send the flames towards the ponies,” he said.

“It was a close call, one of the closest I experienced in my five years of conservation grazing.

“Another few metres and my conservation grazing land would have been alight. My ponies had a very lucky escape – it could have ended a lot worse than it did.”

The blaze was the latest in a series of anti-social incidents that have blighted Berwyn’s conservation sites.

Vandalism, litter and dog encounters have become par for the course, but it is wildfires that pose the biggest threat.

It is for this reason that he is a firm advocate of campaigns to ban disposable barbecues.

All the big supermarkets stopped selling them once drought was declared across large areas of the UK, while Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Aldi have said they will no longer stock disposable barbecues because of the potential impact they have on the environment and wildlife.

Berwyn, who rents a smallholding in Bethesda, Gwynedd, said: “Every year we get wildfires and arson attacks and in this summer’s dry weather they’ve been worse than ever.

“It should be commonsense really – you don’t play with matches, throw away cigarettes or light a disposable barbecue. These sort of things are part of the Countryside Code, which ought to be taught in schools.”

As a member of the Carneddau Graziers Association, Berwyn gives his ponies a purpose they might otherwise be lacking.

An ancient Celtic breed, genetically distinct from Welsh Mountain Ponies, they were much admired by the Romans for their agility and durability.

As they could not carry a knight in full armour, Henry VIII ordered the ponies be destroyed, a tricky task in the remote mountains of Snowdonia.

The campaign failed and, in the 19th century, the ponies were used to pull carts in coal and slate mines.

The decline of mining brought a new threat and only the efforts of hill farmers have ensured their continued survival.

By giving them a conservation role – the way they eat vegetation is better for habitats than sheep – Berwyn is able to pay for their upkeep.

But sites run by his business, BG Jones Conservation Grazing, are coming under increasing pressure from public intrusion.

“Problems have got worse since the start of the Covid pandemic,” he said.

“All of a sudden, everyone wants to access the countryside and the amount of litter and dog faeces has increased exponentially.

“It’s just sheer stupidity – you wonder what goes through people’s heads.

“Kids also play on the conservation land and chase the ponies. Dog walkers let their dogs in among the ponies and one complained their dog got kicked in the head. I mean, what are they thinking?

“It’s private land, owned by Flintshire Council and Presthaven Sands Holiday Park, and they are not supposed to be there in the first place.

“They even threatened to take me to court, even though they were the ones trespassing.”

Source: Read Full Article