Four rare Northumberland ponies ended up far from home over the Easter weekend after a gate was left open by visitors on a nature reserve.
The Exmoor ponies have called the Benshaw Moor nature reserve, near Elsdon, home for less than a month after being donated by the Moorland Mousie Trust in Dulverton, Somerset. They have free rein over the 600 acre site which Northumberland Wildlife Trust acquired in 2019, with the animals part of the Flexigraze conservation grazing scheme, an aspect of the charity's management plan for the reserve.
However, the four hooved beasts had free rein over the local roads north of the Wallington Estate over Easter weekend when a gate at the reserve was left open. The Wildlife Trust believe that visitors left the gate open, and that it not only put the ponies at risk, but also motorists and walkers; as the ponies may have bolted due to not being used to open roads with cars on them.
Thankfully, they were rescued by a local farmer and Northumberland Wildlife Trust staff on Friday, before volunteers were able to return them to Benshaw Moor on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Duncan Hutt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Director of Conservation, was angered by the incident, and the Wildlife Trust has now issued a plea to visitors to not only ensure gates are closed behind them at all times, but also to take rubbish home; especially items such as disposable barbecues and bottles, which could cause a fire.
Duncan said: "How many times do we have to ask people to act responsibly on our reserves? It’s simple - close gates, don’t trample down fences to access cordoned off areas and take rubbish home. Every year we ask people and every year people ignore us.
"In this instance, the ponies were discovered safely at Wallington and looked after by a local farmer who we are very grateful to, but the outcome could have been totally different. Returning them to the reserve safely took a considerable amount of time and effort which distracted us from our other conservation work on the site."
Now that the ponies are back on the site, their hooves will once again churn up the ground creating open areas for seeds to germinate, allowing plants to grow in the hope of attracting more bees and birds to the site.
Did you see the escaped ponies in Northumberland this weekend? Let us know!
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