Wild horses to graze city reserve

The Konik horses are being imported from a reserve in Holland

A herd of wild horses is being imported from Holland to help restore a nature reserve near a Kent city centre.

The 13 Konik horses will be introduced to 300 acres of grazing marsh on the banks of the River Stour, five minutes' walk from Canterbury's shopping centre.

Wildwood Trust, which already has three of the horses at its discovery park near Herne Bay, is helping Canterbury City Council set up the herd.

Two herds of Koniks are also grazing on wetlands at Stodmarsh and Ham Fen.

Prehistoric times

The horses are the closest living relatives of the extinct Tarpan, the wild forest horse which roamed Britain in prehistoric times.

Their grazing of marshy areas helps to create ideal living conditions for birds such as geese, spoonbills, bitterns and corncrakes.

"This is the first stage of the restoration of the nature reserve," said Peter Smith, chief executive of the Wildwood Trust.

"We hope to bring over 100 horses from the nature reserves in Holland."

The Konik horses were originally bred in Poland in the early years of the 20th Century after the last of the pure Tarpans died out.

They were first brought into southern England by the Trust in 2002.

The new herd will be transported by ship to Dover at the end of November.