Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

Sheep are good pioneers for grazing some fens. Being lightweight and of
small body size, they move easily around sites to areas inaccessible to larger
animals, but sheep are of limited use in taller vegetation unless tracks are cut
through to encourage them to move into new areas. Sheep are highly selective
grazers preferring flowering heads and shorter grasses. Rushes and sedges are
an important component of their diet in both summer and winter. Some sheep,
particularly traditional breeds, are excellent at controlling scrub regrowth if put
onto fens in spring when buds are bursting. Poaching by sheep can be a localised
problem but rarely causes problems on fens unless stocked at very high densities.
Intensive grazing by sheep may also result in a short even sward with little
vegetation structure. This may result in a decrease in biodiversity, especially a loss
in invertebrates. Sheep grazing should therefore be closely monitored to ensure the
desired vegetation structure is achieved.
Horses and ponies are selective grazers. Grazed extensively (i.e. at low stocking
densities or over large areas), equines – aided by their slightly forward pointing
incisors - create a mosaic of shortly grazed ‘lawns’ interspersed with areas of taller,
undisturbed vegetation used for dunging. This structural diversity benefits a range
of species, including for example, invertebrates, small mammals and birds of prey.
The issue of ungrazed areas becoming rank can be resolved by concentrating
a larger number of horses on a smaller area, or preferably, by grazing equines in
combination with other species. Sheep work particularly well with horses. On
softer ground, grazing by horses and ponies is likely to create bare ground, which in
moderation can be beneficial in allowing colonisation by certain species.
108
Hebridean sheep are one
of various hardy native
breeds ideally suited to
extensive grazing of wet
fens (A.McBride)
Welsh mountain ponies
grazing black bog-rush and
blunt flowered rush fen
at Cors Bodeilio National
Nature Reserve in Wales (P.
Jones).