GPS trackers for Dartmoor ponies managing wild landscapes

Dartmoor ponies wandering across the hills of west Cornwall are getting a technological boost. The National Trust has begun equipping some of the animals with GPS collars so staff can monitor their movements across the 1,482 acres (600 hectares) of countryside the ponies help maintain.

According to Ash Pearson, countryside manager for the National Trust in west Cornwall, the tracking is an important step for conservation work. “We’ve got more than 30 ponies, but we only fit collars to the lead animals in each group. If we can locate them, we can usually locate the rest,” he explained.

The collars sit around the ponies’ necks and send their positions to a phone or computer.
They’re designed to detach easily to prevent the animals from getting snagged on rocks or thick vegetation — though this sometimes results in staff chasing down a missing collar rather than a missing pony.

Pearson said the ponies play a vital role in keeping Cornwall’s landscape open and full of biodiversity.

About half of the Trust’s land is grazed by ponies and the other half by cattle. Because the collars are costly, the Trust uses only around six of them, but that number is enough to follow the herds.