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.
Category Archives: New Forest
New Forest: squirrel-pie anyone?
Like it or not, the history of the New Forest is firmly interconnected with the practice of hunting. It was for this purpose that William I established the landscape as a Royal Forest, in the eleventh century. While most people associate … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest customs, New Forest flora & fauna
Tagged Deputy Surveyor, Eat them to beat them, grey squirrel, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, Lyndhurst Petty Sessions, New forest, Pascal Aussignac, Red Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, Sciurus vulgaris, squirrel pie, squirrel sausage, squirrel stew, wild meat
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New Forest: four pony scheme 1890
In the last decade of the nineteenth century efforts were made to improve the breeding of the New Forest pony to fulfil a ready market for ‘the large class, daily increasing, who use good ponies in light carts instead of … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest pony
Tagged Arabian, breeding, Commoner, foal, Four Pony Scheme, mare, New forest, New Forest Pony Association, pony, purebred, Queen Victoria, stallion
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New Forest: the great mouse invasion 1814
Whilst moving bales of hay from the barn recently I noticed in one of them an imprinted circular shape that was about the diameter of a coffee mug. In the shallow impression were several empty hazelnut shells. Each of the … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest flora & fauna
Tagged Apodemus sylvaticus, great mouse invasion, James Cook, Lord Glenbervie, mice, mouse, Muscardinus avellanarius, New forest, Sir Joseph Banks, swarm
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New Forest: pistols at dawn and rough music!
In October 1816 it was reported in The Sporting Magazine that a duel had taken place ‘in the neighbourhood of the New Forest’ between a Capt. Fairman and the Hon. Butler Danvers, which was attended by their respective surgeons and … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged chivalry, duel, fashion, New forest, noise, pistol, police, pots and pans, rough music, skimmington
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New Forest: the pony, an innkeeper and a judge!
I recently discovered a rather amusing but true story concerning a New Forest pony, an innkeeper and a County Court judge, which was reported in the Hampshire Advertiser in December 1891. The events of the story began earlier that year, … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged Compton Arms, Hampshire Advertiser, innkeeper, judge, Mazeppa, New forest, oats, ostler, pony, Rufus Stone, Rufus the Red, Southampton County Court, Stoney Cross, true story, William II
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New Forest: The Big Freeze 1963-1964
The rainy weather of late (January 2016) has meant that I’ve had to have a bit of a reorganisation in the hay barn to make room for a vehicle that doesn’t like starting in the wet and cold. I had thought … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest pony
Tagged 1963, 1964, Big Freeze, Deputy Surveyor, emergency, feeding, freezing temperatures, hay, keepers, New forest, pony, snow
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New Forest: Wet! Wet! Wet!
The downpours of late (January 2016) have created lakes in my fields and paddocks and my home-kept ponies are looking decidedly soggy and miserable. The ground beside the field gates has been churned into mud, as the ponies parade up … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged 4X4, authorities, bogs, carriage, catchment, cyclists, flood, footpath, ford, Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service, mires, mud, New forest, rain, river, Royal Life Saving Society, water, watercourse, Wet!
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New Forest: the bully-boy Conqueror, hunting and warfare.
William the Conqueror is a source of fascination to me. As the man who created the New Forest, his motives and actions also continue to be debated by many historians and scholars. For some he was the first medieval conservationist, … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged 1066, 1079, boars, bully, England, Guinness World Records, hart, hind, horses, hunting, martial skills, Medieval, New forest, Queen Matilda, red deer, royal hunting, stag, unenclosed, warfare, William Conqueror
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New Forest: ‘animal aware’ road users.
In 1903 at Brook occurred the first death of a New Forest animal, a pony, caused by a motor vehicle. Since then livestock injuries and fatalities have become a sad but regular statistic. Information about road traffic incidents, involving commonable … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Animal Road Traffic Accidents, New Forest pony
Tagged animal aware, animals, cattle, donkeys, florescent, Forestry Commission, Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire County Council, high-viz, luminous paint, New forest, New Forest District Council, New Forest Trust, ponies, reflective, road deaths, traffic incidents, Verderers
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New Forest ponies: search and find or hide and seek?
The New Forest has taken on a completely different look and feel since the onset of late autumn. Many of the birds that were regularly encountered over the summer months have, like the tourists, migrated elsewhere. The atmosphere is tranquil … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest flora & fauna, New Forest pony, Uncategorized
Tagged Commoner, Cow, deer, Fallow, fawn, find, foal, genes, New forest, pony, search, trees
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