Nature Heroes - Tawny the pony

Meet Tawny, Kent Wildlife Trust’s oldest conservation grazing pony who has been diligently helping wild the county’s landscape for over two decades.

Kent Wildlife Trust has been using conservation grazing animals to wild areas of Kent for decades. The cows, ponies, pigs and more recently, bison, shape the landscape around them through their natural grazing behaviour, targeting shrubs and scrub and trampling dense vegetation to bring light and space that helps nature thrive.  

Over 800 animals now roam across 90 of the Trust’s reserves. Some, like the herd of European bison in West Blean and Thornden Woods, only began their journey with the charity last year, but others like the little Exmoor pony Tawny, have been working the land for decades. 

Tawny is the longest-serving conservation grazer at Kent Wildlife Trust. He arrived with a small herd of Exmoors back in 1999, aged just two years old. He is the last remaining member of that founding herd after Oak, who was in his thirties last year, passed away last year. 

One of our conservation gang

 

The plucky pony spends his days with other conservation grazing ponies at Wouldham Nature Reserve, browsing and munching on whatever he comes across. Exmoors are a hardy British native pony breed, able to live out all year round without the need for a stable or rug. They are incredibly versatile and love to eat thick and coarse vegetation like bramble, thistle and gorse, which, if left, can overwhelm the landscape. 

Their small, sharp hooves create bare ground and vital edge habitat in heathland, which can support rare invertebrates, birds, and low-growing plants. They also avoid close contact with people, so co-exist well alongside visitors to reserves. 

The Exmoor pony is steeped in history, and the breed is even mentioned in the Doomsday Book. The rangers joke that Tawny is so old he probably featured in the great survey of 1086! 

Kent Wildlife Trust’s Alison Ruyter said: “Tawny represents decades of commitment by the Trust to use Nature-based Solutions to create thriving habitats for wildlife and whilst we treat our animals as wild and doing an important job, it is hard not to be fond of those who have been with us for since the beginning of our journey. 

“Across our reserves, we use mixes of old breeds of grazing, browsing and rootling animals to mimic natural processes. These grazing animals act in similar ways to the large grazers that used to live wild in Kent but are now extinct, such as aurochs, elk, and bison. When used as a conservation tool alongside deer and wild boar, they have an almost symbiotic relationship with their surroundings. 

 

"Whilst our animals are free-roaming, their welfare remains at the heart of what we do. They are all seen daily by an army of volunteer livestock checkers who monitor their condition and report back if there are any concerns. If an animal requires additional assistance, we provide it."

With over 800 grazing animals across our reserves, it is important visitors act responsibly by keeping their distance from them, never approaching or feeding them, and ensuring dogs are kept on a lead at all times. By respecting this code of conduct we can coexist to the benefit of wildlife.

Sustainable grazing

Restoring ecosystems sustainably requires ecosystem-scale action.

Find out more about our Wilder Grazing initiative

Related blog posts

St Clement's churchyard volunteers posing with rob smith for the talk on the wild side podcast episode
Tim Horton

Rewilding a churchyard in Sandwich

Blog

A run down and overgrown medieval churchyard in Sandwich has been restored to a beautiful wildlife haven by a group of local volunteers who live locally and are part of the congregation at the church. In this amazing story, you'll hear from the people who…

Coastal chalk erosion including cliff, cave, stack, arch and chalk reef platform. Whiteness, Broadstairs.

National Marine Week: The North East Kent Marine Protected Area

Blog

The county of Kent is blessed with an extensive coastal and intertidal environment comprising elements of the eastern Thames Estuary, the southern North Sea and the English Channel. In north-east Kent, located between the towns of Whitstable and Deal, is…