Goodbye to our new volunteers, for now....

We recently said goodbye to our latest volunteers, some lovely ponies that are helping with our conservation management at Alsop Moor. 

The plantation hides a rare Limestone Heath in its midst which would revert to woodland if left to its own devices.

The ponies which have called Alsop Moor home for a few months have been busy eating tree seedlings, brambles and grasses which can all get out of control and smother the rarer heathland plants like heather and bilberry.

Look at the difference they have made to this area that is usualy overgrown with brambles and willowherbs

The ponies have now left the area so that the bilberry and heather can flower and set seed, but we hope to see them again next year.

Mark Cunningham, Ranger