Water delivered to ‘desperate’ ponies as the heatwave goes on
AS THE heatwave continues and temperatures keep soaring, spare a thought for a herd of suffering ponies – and our increasingly scorched grassland.
A herd of 200 “desperate” wild mountain ponies at a beauty spot needed help when their natural drinking water ran dry on their sun-baked moorland.
So instead of leading the horses to water, thousands of gallons were shipped from a nearby quarry lake to top up their favourite drinking spots thanks to the actions of kind-hearted horse lovers.
An animal charity ferried bowsers of water from the quarry to take it to the “desperate” horses on the Gelligaer Common near Caerphilly.
The fight to save the ponies is being co-ordinated by the Welsh Pony Rescue and Rehoming Charitable Trust.
The trust’s Kay Lewis warns that if the hot weather continues it will be increasingly difficult to keep the horses hydrated.
She said: “There is no water on Gelligaer Common at all, it is a really desperate situation.
“The watering holes have turned into slurry and mud with foals getting stuck.
“But having the drinking water delivered has diverted a disaster.
“Without it there would have been a loss of foals’ and ponies’ lives.”
More than 13,000 litres of water was transported from a nearby quarry to the common to refill one of the watering holes in just 24 hours.
Officers from Caerphilly Council are visiting the common to keep a check on the welfare of the ponies with the charity.
And the ponies aren’t the only part of the natural world not thriving in the current high temperatures.
As the heatwave continues, the Tom Jones classic could more aptly be renamed The Brown, Brown Grass of Home given the current state of Wales’ grassland.
Fields and lawns across Wales are starting to look like the arid grasslands of more tropical climes.
When deprived of water, grass may stop growing and start to brown, especially once the top 10cm (4in) of soil dries out, says Dave Callow from Lawn & Weed Expert in the Vale of Glamorgan.
“It’s basically a lack of water. If you look at the verges, weeds will be greener because they have deeper roots compared to grass, so they reach further into the soil for water,” he said.
When it can no longer absorb the necessary nutrients from the soil, grass enters a semi-dormancy state in an act of self-protection.
The change from green to drown signals the loss of chlorophyll in the leaves, which is a necessary component for photosynthesis to take place.
This “dormancy phase” is comparable to an animal hibernating over the winter when food is scarce.
It looks a lot worse than it is. At the moment, it is not dead. However, drought damage can begin to occur if temperatures stay at around 30 degrees for 3-4 weeks without rain.
Mr Callow said: “We need five days of heavy rain to get the grass back to normal.”
But while days of heavy rain aren’t being predicted just yet, there could be slightly “fresher” temperatures – and the chance of some showers – to come.
According to the Met Office, Wales basked in temperatures of up to 31°C on Sunday.
It’s looking set to stay dry for the majority of the week even though “isolated showers” are possible on Thursday – although possibly only in the south-east of England.