Carneddau foal

Today we return to the Carneddau  - the section of the Snowdonia range fringing the north Wales coast, stretching inland towards Bethesda and Capel Curig. The views today are stupendous; here we can look out over the Orme to the sea and Anglesey, or gaze across the rugged moors to higher peaks. Sunlight and clouds paint the hills in ever changing colours, and we are surrounded with almost complete silence, broken only by the occasional chat of farmers, the baaing of sheep or occasional skylark song. 

This is enough in itself, of course, but there is more, for this is also the home of around 300 semi-feral Carneddau ponies whose history is thought to date back to the Bronze Age. Although they are not designated as a rare breed, they are genetically distinct from the Welsh Mountain pony and carry genes specifically related to hardiness and waterproofing - essential for a life on the Welsh hills. 

Our first visit here was only last October, when the weather was cold and wet. To my shame, I’d heard of the ponies only during lockdown, and this was a quest to find them. Of course, as the herd ranges over nearly 20 square miles of Snowdonia - including mountains over 3,000 feet high, bogs, cliffs, rocky slopes and lakes - there is never any guarantee of finding them. Back then, spotting them on a ridge involved an adventurous detour. Today, fortuitously, they were almost in our path. 

Gorgeous creatures, with extravagant manes and tails, this small herd comprises adults, some of last year’s soft-featured foals, and - wonderfully - this year’s young additions. Keeping a respectful distance, I watch one mother and her foal. Long-legged yet sure-footed, the little one follows mum across the boggy moorland to new grazing. Yet she is more interested in this strange intruder, fixing eyes on me as I frame the shot. Soft woolly coat, as yet maneless, almost glowing in the sunlight; dark innocent eyes, soft velvety muzzle, and a brilliant white star in the centre of her forehead. She is beautiful (though the image is much crisper viewed large)

These ponies are owned and managed by the Carneddau Pony Society - a group of farmers from Bethesda and Llanfairfechan who are supported through a management agreement with Natural Resources Wales that helps them to maintain the herd, grazing to benefit wildlife. Eating soft rush, Molinia, gorse and mountain grasses, their grazing and trampling help to keep bracken and gorse under control, create pathways and maintain the landscape of the mountains. 

The following link tells more of how the herd is managed. 

https://www.cnp.org.uk/blog/carneddau-ponies-wildlife-warriors-snowdonia-national-park