The Gallery
Learning about and practising commoning on the New Forest.
In medieval times a forest meant an area preserved for royal hunting, and not a wooded area as it does today.
The Agisiter ensures welfare standards of the free-roaming animals are maintained.
The ‘architects’ of the New Forest.
The New Forest landscape supports many species of plants, insects, birds and mammals. It should be valued as a reserve for nature.
One of many gatherings where Commoners can exchange news, information and knowledge.
Pannage season is part of the ancient commoning rights and a popular tradition.
Traditional management practices, particularly commoning, have conserved the ecological diversity of the Forest.
Monthly Archives: April 2017
New Forest: newborn foals and spring arrive together
The past few weeks of visiting the New Forest to check on my free-roaming mares have been a reminder to all my senses of just how glorious a place this is. The sound of the cuckoo, skylark and lapwing in … Continue reading
New Forest Stallion Areas 2017
New Forest Stallion Turnout Areas 2017 Each year stallions are released onto the Open Forest to run with the free-roaming mares and sire the next generation of New Forest pony. The stallions are carefully selected by the Verderer’s of the … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Stallion
Tagged areas, mare, New forest, pony, season, stallion, turn out
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New Forest: itchy, scratchy, lousy!
I went for a walk this week, in a part of the Forest that I don’t usually visit. I wanted to see if the bluebells had bloomed, so went on a route that took in one of the Forestry Commission … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest pony
Tagged Damalinia equi, donkey, equine, filly, horse, itchy, lice, louse, lousy, mare, New forest, pony, scratchy
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New Forest: Look, but don’t touch the animals
This week I had a long Twitter conversation with someone concerned about the amount of people feeding and petting the donkeys at Hatchet Pond, near Beaulieu. In one incident a family went even further, and were trying to force a … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Animal Road Traffic Accidents, New Forest pony
Tagged animal food, bite, cars, colic, cows, danger, don't touch, donkeys, fatal, food, hand feeding, Hatchet Pond, human food, injury, kick, look, New forest, no-no, picnic, pigs, poison, ponies, prohibited, roads, sheep, toxic, traffic, treat, Verderers, verge, waterfowl
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New Forest: animal accidents – multiple causes/multiple solutions
This week (April, 2017) the subject of animal accidents on the Forest roads has been very much at the forefront of my mind. I’ve been watching with interest the comments on various social media forums, reading newspaper reports, listening to … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Animal Road Traffic Accidents
Tagged accidents, animal, car parks, catchment, cattle, donkeys, drainage, drivers, environment, feeding, flood, grazing, landscape, New forest, nutrient, Open Forest, pigs, restoration, river, roads. ponies, sheep, speed limit, speeding, stream, timber, traffic, water, wetland
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New Forest: spring-time musings
I was going through my diary to see what I was doing this time last year. I was wondering when I had moved the home-kept ponies off their winter grazing and into their spring paddocks. When did I begin to … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest flora & fauna
Tagged Africa, British Trust for Ornithology, BTO, cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, fields, Gilbert White, grazing, Hampshire Ornithological Trust, harvest, hay, haymaking, herald, Hirundo rustica, HOS, martin, New forest, NORAD, poached, ponies, pony, Santa, Selborne, spring, swallow, Wet!
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