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Our Project
We're asking for donations and shop purchases to support a long term plan to capture a suite of remarkable images and video over 2021, designed to support the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust's ongoing Management Plan.
This involves:
• Revealing and promoting the value of the Dartmoor pony in conservation grazing to more people
• Managing and encouraging better biodiversity
• Caring for the unique habitat the ponies create, which already supports at least six bird species on the BoCC Red List and four from the Amber list
Bellever is the main conservation site of the Dartmoor Pony Heritage Trust, an 450 hectare area they've managed since 2008. The site offers a high biodiversity value and comes with significant archaeological interest as well as providing valuable access for education.
Bellever - The essential work of the Dartmoor pony
The native Dartmoor Pony makes a huge difference to the diversity of the moorland they live on. They thrive on a varied diet so live on the moor all year round. Stamping on the old gorse makes it easier to eat. Grazing on Molinia, a common and highly invasive purple moor grass, helps keep it under control and allows other native plants to come through. The ponies also trample the bracken, eat brambles, and generally get into places other animals can't or won't go.
All this, plus lots of lovely rich dung and constant moving around, means the ponies create paths that let in more light, creating welcoming moorland habitats where a better variety of plants can grow. These attract more insects, which in turn brings more birds and animals to the moor in a natural virtuous circle.
None of this could happen without Dartmoor's native ponies. Without them the moor would ultimately be overrun by Molinia, brambles and scrub, an un-natural monoculture that doesn't suit wildlife at all well.
Supporting the DPHT's vital conservation plans
Inspired By Wildlife is delighted to support the DPHT's long term plans:
• Providing more of the charity's hugely popular guided educational walks
• Supporting more conservation volunteers
• Maintaining the areas around existing archaeological sites
• Partnering with the Dartmoor National Park Authority to uncover and record new sites of archaeological interest
• Helping to preserve Dartmoor’s heritage and history
• Doing everything possible to mitigate climate change
• Driving better biodiversity on Dartmoor
• Educating and inspiring people to improve the ways they use Dartmoor
• Helping people make powerful personal contracts with nature, developing a deep respect for the moor and its heritage
Please help us to educate and raise awareness about these wildlife conservation projects by donating or buying beautiful products from our Inspired Collection shop.
