Hullo there, Foot and mouth still rages all around us and there was talk of having to destroy some of the livestock on the moors. This month we take a look at what might happen if the indiginous ponies were no longer to graze. Let's hope this awful crisis is all over soon...

Dartmoor has often been described as the last great "Wilderness in Britain".

It is, in fact, not a wilderness but a well managed area of environmental and archaeological treasures. The old name for Dartmoor, is "The Forest of Dartmoor", the central mass of the moors is still referred to as just that.

We have The Dartmoor Forest Council, and the Commoners who have grazing rights on that area have those rights allocated on a particular quarter of The Forest of Dartmoor.

Swaling - an age-old method of controlling unwanted vegetation

This scurge of Foot and Mouth, which at the time of writing, is playing havoc in the northern half of the county, and threatening the northen edge of Dartmoor, could have a devastating effect on the Dartmoor Ecology, if it gets on to the open moors.

This year virtually no "swaling" has taken place, that age old method of controlling unwanted or encroaching vegetation, and if that were allowed to continue for several years it could be just the beginning of the development of such a wilderness.

The subject of many photos and paintings, The Dartmoor Ponies

If Foot and Mouth ultimately gets on to Dartmoor or Exmoor (as it did on Hatherleigh Common resulting in all the sheep and cattle being removed) leaving just the Exmoor and Dartmoor Ponies as the only herbivors on the moors, we will see a degeneration of the moors both as a grazing habitat for the Moorland Farmers stock and the loss of the asthetic value of the beautiful scenery that we and our tourist and visitor friends alike see and enjoy, photograph, paint, and store in our memory cells.

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