now for a film that's been 14 years in the making back in 2002 we told you how
wild horses have been introduced to Kent to help with the countryside and we've
been watching them ever since
if you're out enjoying the Kent countryside you may come across this
enchanting scene these are the wild horses of Kent they now called several
nature reserves across the county they're home
the horses are called conics they're genetically the closest thing to the
wild horses which roamed across England 7,000 years ago and they aren't here for
decoration they're working for a living
Peter Smith from Wildwood trust Nick Canterbury is a big fan of the conic
horses many of the Mitchell's laws that we couldn't manage properly on my own
manage thanks to these wonderful horses so where did they come from
in a word Holland many years ago wild horses were successfully introduced to a
nature reserve near Amsterdam called Estrada's fluffin rooster our
displacement is fantastic I mean what a wealth of wildlife I've never seen so
much rare birds so many rare forms of plant all living in one area so in 2002
Peter raised the money and bought some wild horses to bring back to Kent
the first ones were released in Scott Marsh near Canterbury 14 years later
these are at all marshes near Faversham Peter is the first to admit that in the
early days they were rather making it up as they went along sighting you know we
were becoming this is how it works if this land was left alone the scrub would
grow and it would eventually turn into woodland but conservationists want to
keep the land like this there's a habitat for rare animals it's too
difficult and expensive to cut back the scrub with machinery but wild horses
will eat anything they're stopping fields from scrubbing over and creating
wetlands the natural way providing a home for all sorts of wildlife it's an
example of what's becoming known as rewilding the whole of the community of
people who work in nature conservation ecologists academics they are all coming
to understand that mean Wilding is the future of nature conservation the horses
started off managing the wetland at staad Marsh near Canterbury and ham fen
near sandwich they then spread across the county nature evolved to live in
harmony with the grazing of these horses and then all the rare beasties things
that we think have incredibly read will have a place to live and we could have
them all back in that country and it's not just Kent soon the horses
were heading to pastures new across the border and into Sussex
for instance the breed valley near hastings
you'll notice that they're all fairly scraggly the coats have been rolling in
a lot of mud we met Philip Newton five years ago and he converted 100 acres of
his farm into wetlands and needed the help of wild horses about 15 years ago
this whole area that you can see was arable and it was all drained and
ironically I reversed the process as a friend of mine says just add water and
see what happens so you want me to scratch so five years on what has
happened the whole of this landscape of where they are has changed considerably
a lot of open grazed areas and it's providing the perfect habitat for the
nesting waders and the overwintering waders and wetland Birds
it's the habitat is nearly what I would consider to be exactly as required the
optimum the word spread and many different conservation organizations
became interested Peter isn't in charge of some kind of coordinated rollout
program but over the years the idea gained momentum and soon the horses set
foot or rather set hoof all across the country
for instance wicken fen nature reserve in Cambridgeshire received 13 conic
horses 13 years ago and now has over 90 the births are always lovely when you
come down to the herd in the morning and there's a brand new that the foal it's
always really exciting more horses have made their way to black soft sands
reserve near GU the East Riding of Yorkshire normally they're quite calm
and then all of a sudden you'll just get this burst of energy where they start
rustling and tussling with each other and the visitors love it
yeah we'd be lost without them really the team the lock of Strasburg reserve
in Scotland used GPS devices on their horses to keep track of them they are
wild and untamed so it can be a little bit interesting if they choose to be a
bit frisky but hopefully they'll behave themselves today but the horses can't be
left completely alone sometimes they have to be swapped between locations to
make sure they don't become inbred but what we're going to do to get
genetic diversity is will take stallions away and put new stallions on that's the
best way so it's like all herd structures ladies are in charge and the
other they've got the knowledge and the true
instincts to protect the herd so we're going to try to keep the ladies together
as much as we have and the men superfluous just have to move around and
do their job back over in Sussex Phillip Newton has left his horses wild and free
and hasn't had to interfere with their day-to-day business apart from one
memorable occasion the only time we've ever had a problem was when there was a
serious flash flood and somebody on the train considered that they were stranded
in the field and the our rest RSPCA lady turned up police fire and rescue and it
was pathetic the horses could have swum if they'd
wanted to and yet these chaps turned up in dry suits breathing apparatus I was
forbidden to go near them and they just walked out so that is how the wild
horses are rewilding the countryside Peter Smith hopes that this is the way
nature will be preserved in the future we need to rebalance we need to learn
stop taking from nature and start giving back and that's the future of nature
conservation rewilding let me to get on with it and have bigger
niche reserves to bequeath to our children so wild horses were in Kent
7,000 years ago and at this rate their relatives will be here in 7,000 years time.
Trees Woods Forests