Wild ponies released to increase Kent's biodiversity

Any keen gardener could quickly tell you the great benefits horse manure gives to plant-life. Great for providing natural fertiliser rich in nutrients and as a living lawnmower, herds of horses are now being deployed in several parts of the country to help revive nature reserves.

Kent is the latest area to benefit from these organic lawn mowers as a herd of wild horses is to be released into the South Foreland Valley nature reserve at St Margaret's Bay near Dover.

The project is a collaboration between conservation groups, The Wildwood Trust and White Cliffs Countryside Project as well as St Margaret's parish council. The organisations are hoping that the ponies will help increase biodiversity in the region.

Currently, important species of plants and insects occupying the site are under threat unless the area is grazed by animals.

The horses to be released were brought over from Holland four years ago and are the closest living relatives of the extinct tarpan, the wild forest horse which roamed Britain in prehistoric times.

[Image © Treehouse1977via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence]