Wilder Grazing

Head of the herd is Voldemort, a dark lord of horses...

Living their best life surrounded by lots of grass.

This lovable clan migrate around several reserves throughout the year led by their leader, Skittles.

Meet the natural ploughs of the wild.

Miniature cows originally bred to live inside (and heat up) houses with some very big personalities.

Meet the leader - the horns of doom to any nettle that stands in his way.

Goats chomping through the chestnut on an iron age hill fort.

Our longhorn cattle are a beautiful British breed with unique markings and horns.

Meet the Highland cows that are part of our crucial Wilder Grazing programme

A result of Sussex and Angus parentage, these animals share the excellent temperaments of two breeds

A small cow, tough and hardy with short pointy horns.

Find out about Exmoor ponies and why we use them in conservation.

Fell ponies are native to Cumbria in the Northwest of England. They were bred for their strength to climb steep slopes and scale rocky terrains whilst hauling heavy machinery and goods. Their thick coats and manes help to protect them from strong winds…

Coming in a wide range of sizes, colours and patterns, with an array of horn sizes and shapes, these goats are perhaps the ideal conservation animal.

An all-black compact mountain sheep with a taste for bramble and young scrub.

Resident of the Cumbrian fells for hundreds of years, this hill breed is the backbone of our sheep flocks.

Highland cows with their distinctive long horns and flowing coats are the unsung heroes of nature conservation.

These pigs are as close as you can get to the wild boar and also, despite being a domesticated version of this wild species, share many of its traits.

Konik ponies are one of the largest of the ‘pony’ breeds, often the size of a horse. 'Konik' literally means small horse. They are domestic ponies, bred over 100 years to live in the wild for conservation purposes.

This pig breed is becoming popular with smallholders and free range farmers. Despite their large size, large black pigs are often friendly and placid.

Longhorn cattle can be many colours but they are almost always brindle (splattered/stripey) with a white line down the spine. They have long backs and can have very impressive horns.

A striking unusual milky coffee coloured-sheep, often with four horns and sometimes as many as six. This primitive breed is originally from the Isle of Man. Their fleece self-sheds but they can also be shorn.

Similar to both the Hebridean sheep and the Manx, this is a compact, fine boned mountain sheep that can have two or four horns. Unlike our other two breeds of mountain sheep, Shetland sheep come in a wide variety of colours, so you will see cream and…

A richly red breed of cow specifically suited for the wet, woody ground of the Kent and Sussex Weald.

The story goes... they were bred by the Romans to take with them on their marches across the countryside so had to be strong, long-legged and happy to browse on whatever was available as they covered the length and breadth of the countryside.

Koniks (sometimes referred to as Konik Polski) are a non-native primitive breed that originate from Poland. They are a descendant of the tarpan, a type of European wild horse that went extinct in the 19th century. They have been bred for almost 80 years…

Wilder Grazing Ranger Volunteer Trainee, Ellie Edmondson, explores why grazing animals shed and gain weight throughout the year as part of a natural cycle.

Wilder Grazing Ranger Volunteer Trainee, Ellie Edmondson, talks about the fell ponies on our reserves and what makes them great conservation grazers.

One of the main methods that seeds use to disperse themselves is through animals. Read more about the importance of this & how it happens.

In Kent, our grazing animals roam the reserves using their instincts and experience to guide them towards delicious nutritious vegetation and away from potentially toxic plants. This deep-rooted wisdom is a product of evolution and survival instincts…

How do you restore a chalk downland? Our appeal to purchase an extension to our existing Polhill Bank nature reserve offers us a unique opportunity to restore an additional 26 acres of arable land into a rare and biodiverse habitat in Sevenoaks, Kent. But…