On The Heath

Knettishall Heath lies in that part of East Anglia which is known as Breckland. The Brecks are an area of poor, mostly sandy soils which were devastated back in the Neolithic by the efforts of early farmers. "Breck" land means "broken" land. But rather than give up on this land, mankind has continued to find uses for it: grazing sheep, farming rabbits and more recently using large parts of it for commercial forestry and army training grounds. Recreational use and pig farming are just two more of the pressures on the land today. 

You might think that nature would have moved out long ago - but you'd be wrong! Instead many species of plants, insects, birds and reptiles have adapted to this landscape.

Heathers are just some of the more noticeable plants to thrive on the sandy soils. But left to its own devices the natural world would not maintain the status quo, as we shall see on this circular walk around Knettishall Heath.

When the land is left free from interference from humans, and most especially their grazing animals, it can soon become covered in bracken and trees, which is good habitat for some species and no good at all for others.

Our footsteps soon led us down to the banks of the River Little Ouse. Much of the river is quiet and peaceful, though close to the car park it's popular with picnickers and wild swimmers. Old chaps like me may flee in horror from events like "Young Explorers", or even "Wild Babies", but they serve a useful purpose in introducing youngsters to the natural world.

If they'd wandered a little way along the river bank they might have been delighted to discover Peacock and Red Admiral butterflies busily feeding on the flowers of Hemp Agrimony.

But bracken, that tough and hardy fern, can swiftly stifle the growth of so many of the special flowers and plants of Breckland. There's just not enough money in sheep farming any more and the wild rabbit population has been reduced by myxomatosis and other diseases. Without their constant nibbling the bracken can just take over.....unless an ally is enlisted.

Bring on the ponies! These are Exmoor Ponies which are normally found on the moorlands of Somerset and Devon, down in the south-west of England. Even on Exmoor they are not truly wild animals; they are all owned by somebody. But they do roam freely across the uplands and are just rounded up once a year to count them, check their health and take some to sell on - or indeed to send them off to nature reserves for conservation grazing.

Exmoors are just one of the many semi-wild types of ponies that graze the British uplands and like most others were used in the past as pit-ponies, hauling waggon-loads of coal underground. They are stocky, powerfully-built animals that range in colour from brown to dun to bay (various shades of brown) and have distinctive "mealy" markings around their muzzle and eyes.

At this time of year they have lustrous, glossy coats that seem to shimmer in the sunlight, but come back in winter and you'll find they have thick shaggy coats that protect them from the cold. And more importantly they also efficiently shed the English rainfall.

The Rare Breeds Society reckons the status of the Exmoor pony is "endangered" with only a couple of hundred individuals remaining. I hope that they (and other upland pony breeds) can become more numerous on our nature reserves; they are certainly very popular with visitors.

They have their work cut out if they are ever going to get the better of this bracken and return the Breckland heaths to their former glory.

They don't actually eat the bracken (see Marlane's comment below and the information which follows it). I had misunderstood the complexity of it. The ponies have lived on Exmoor for centuries with no ill effects.

Take care.