Using horse power for woodland management on Dartmoor

The National Trust on Dartmoor is using the power of horses to help with its woodland management at Hembury Woods, near Buckfastleigh. 

Hembury Woods is ancient semi-natural woodland, a site of special scientific interest and a special area of conservation; and therefore any woodland management needs to be sensitively done

A dense plantation of beech needs to be thinned because it is shading out all the undergrowth except the native bluebells which flower in the late Spring before the trees are in leaf.  Thinning the beech improves the biodiversity of the undergrowth and releases a number of big oak trees into the light.

Mick Jones, National Trust Head Ranger for Dartmoor, has decided to use horses to carry out the work instead of modern day machinery, although it would have been cheaper. The horses are great at working in small areas, minimise ground disturbance and do not make much of a noise.

Will Hampton, who runs Dartmoor Horse Loggers based in South Devon, is carrying out the work for the Trust using his Ardennes horse to retrieve the timber from the woodland. Mick says: "Using a horse rather than heavy machinery is a much better option for us as we want to keep damage to the ground cover to a minimum. Hembury is an important area for our native bluebells and we don’t want to damage them. In the short term the area will not look great; but, in time, we will enhance its long-term conservation value.”