How we support wildlife
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Snowdonia Donkeys and conservation
Farm Moelyci is a special place for nature — many rare fungi, flowers and insects live in the farm’s grasslands. Best known are the brightly coloured waxcap toadstools that emerge in late summer and autumn. The turf has much more to offer, including four types of orchid and three uncommon ferns. In many fields you will see small, rounded grassy mounds: ant hills built by yellow meadow ants. Built to catch the sun, active mounds are a good indicator of species-rich unimproved grassland. Unusual insects recorded here include the minotaur beetle, dingy skipper butterfly, six-spot burnet moth and mountain bumblebee.
This species-rich grassland will not endure if it isn’t managed. Left alone, it is soon overrun by brambles and, after a few years, by gorse, blackthorn and hawthorn scrub. Old, unfertilized natural grassland such as that at Moelyci is an increasingly rare habitat, lost to intensive farming, tree-planting and neglect.
The importance of the Moelyci pastures has been recognised by the Welsh Government: they are designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), so there is a legal duty to preserve them. In autumn 2021 Snowdonia Donkeys was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to help maintain and improve the SSSI land at Moelyci.
Maintenance of this grassland is best done by grazing. Much of Moelyci is grazed by sheep, which nibble the turf to lawn height — ideal for waxcaps and ant hills. Taking sheep off at certain times of year also lets the flowers flourish. Sheep have little impact on brambles and scrub, and this is where the donkeys come in. As well as keeping grass short, donkeys love to browse woody plants — the spikier, the better. Where scrub has invaded, donkeys gradually reduce gorse, bramble and thorn so turf can recover. They also eat rushes that can dominate wetter ground. The Lottery grant helped us improve fencing to manage grazing and to celebrate these habitats through public events and volunteer opportunities.
Sheep remain the main herbivores at Moelyci, but complementing them with donkeys benefits both wildlife and the sheep farmer. Sadly, none of them can safely eat bracken — we still control that by hand.
Find out more about Snowdonia Donkeys, plan a visit, or donate to support our conservation and rescue work.
