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: every day is a school day
The Londoners came to visit again this weekend. These are family members who live in our nation’s capital and, every now and then, when their busy social or work schedules allow, will leave the hectic pace of city-life, traffic jams, … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged animals, botanist, chamomile, children, classroom, couch, day, entomologist, fescue, haunt, hay, learning, livestock, London, meadow, New forest, ornithologist, pimpernel, pollution, school, shade, sorrel, Timothy, traffic, wildflower, wildlife
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New Forest: ‘modern Vandalism’ in the C19th
In 1871 George Briscoe Eyre, the owner of the Bramshaw (or Warren’s) Estate, wrote that’ although a nation of tourists, the English are strangely apt to overlook the claims of their own country upon their attention and its exceptional variety … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest flora & fauna
Tagged Beech, biodiversity, Bradshaw, Briscoe Eyre, C19th, Commissioners, Common Rights, Commoner, Crown, English, National Park, nature, New forest, New Forest Act 1877, nineteenth, Oak, plantation, scotch pine, surveyor, tourists, trees, woods
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New Forest: the sad story of the strange fish
While the New Forest is renown for its exquisite landscape of heathland, valley mires and Ancient and Ornamental woodlands, its 42km (26 miles) of coastal habitats are often overlooked. The New Forest coastline is a mixture of wildlife-rich shingle, saltmarsh, lagoons … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest flora & fauna
Tagged beaked, bottle, carbine, cetacean, coast, continental, dolphin, Dragoon, English Channel, fish, fishermen, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Itchen, Marchwood, New forest, porpoise, Sea, Solent, strange, Tursiops truncatus, water, whale
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New Forest: natural connections
In the last few weeks it has been my absolute pleasure and privilege to be invited into the homes of several long-established commoning families and spend time in their company. Congregating in the kitchen seems to be the standard practice, … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner
Tagged adults, ancient, animals, children, close-knit, common, Commoner, community, conserve, education, generation, information, insects, inter-generational, landscape, livestock, neighbourhood, neighbourhoods, New forest, non-human, pastoral, plants, pony, preserve, resident, residents, traditional, trees
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New Forest: observing the month of deer defence
The commoning calendar holds many significant dates that reflect the seasons, and over time activities have developed that match the time of year. The most important of these are connected to the management of the commonable animals and include the … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest customs
Tagged 1217, 1877, Avon, bridge, Charter of the Forest, Commoner, court, dama dama, deer, defence month, dogs, Eyre, fence month, Fordingbridge, Henry III, John Baptist, July, June, law, Lord of the Manor, Midsummer, New Forest Act, quit rent, Verderer
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New Forest: impressive stallion pedigree
I recently had a chance to observe the stallion running in the area where my mares shade. He was chasing off a particularly annoying gelding and his harem of approximately 40 mares, some with foals at foot, was looking on … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest pony, New Forest Stallion
Tagged 14HH, bay, bloodline, breeding, Byerley Turk, champion, Darley Arabian, Eclipse, flirting, foal, gelding, Godolpin Arabian, harem, herd, lineage, mare, Mary II, pedigree, pony, Racehorse, season, shade, sire, stallion, territory, Thoroughbred, turf, well-bred, William III
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New Forest: C19th waste land or allotments
On this day (28th May) in 1870, it was reported in the Hampshire Advertiser that Southampton residents and those in the surrounding neighbourhood, had held a meeting in the Guildhall to discuss enclosing the New Forest for agricultural purposes. [In the … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged Act, agriculture, commonage, Commoner, commons, cultivate, cultivation, dairy, enclose, enclosure, entail, farming, Government, Guildhall, inheritance, land owner, law, New forest, Pannage, Parliament, pasturage, pauper, poor, population, primogeniture, rich, Southampton, tourist, working man
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New Forest: “I thought it would be bigger!”
Living in or around the New Forest is a pleasure and a privilege that many of us sometimes take for granted, as a friend of mine discovered recently. She had travelled from London to the New Forest bringing with her a … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged B3079, boundary, Cadnam, cattle grid, common, fauna, flora, historic, law, livestock, M27, misunderstand, New forest, park, perambulation, road sign, royal, speed
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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
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