Carneddau Ponies, Conwy Mountain, Wales

A Carneddau mare and her young foal on Conwy Mountain in March 2025, with the Conwy estuary and Llandudno spread out below. These rough bracken and gorse slopes are the northern foothills of the Carneddau range in North Wales. Around 300 of these ponies live on the Carneddau. In 2013 researchers at Aberystwyth University found them to be a genetically distinct population, isolated for at least several hundred years, which makes them one of the most quietly remarkable herds in Europe. They are rounded up once a year in the fall for inspection.