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: Pannage season
New Forest: Autumn colours signal pannage season
Autumn on the New Forest is always a time of spectacle. The breaking dawn bursting upon the ancient landscape painted with reds, lilacs, browns and oranges is a visual treat guaranteed to draw wonder from those who rise early enough … Continue reading
Posted in Pannage season
Tagged acorns, ancient, autumn, breaking dawn, chocolate, colour, Common of Mast, commoners, commoning, New forest, Pannage, pigs, pony, pork, Rights of Common, tradtional
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New Forest: good fences make good neighbours.
‘Good fences make good neighbours’ is an oft-quoted phrase that could have been coined with the New Forest and its free-roaming animals in mind. Whilst the New Forest is referred to as ‘the largest tract of unenclosed land in southern … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, Pannage season
Tagged boundary, cattle, Common of Mast, commonable, Commoner, fencing, free-roaming, good fences make good neighbours, Lane Creepers, New forest, Pannage, perambulation, pig, piglets, ponies, unenclosed, Verderers, wild
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New Forest: autumn activity, tradition and festival
Autumn is always a busy season for farmer, smallholder and commoner alike. It is also a time of ritual, tradition, and festival that reminds us of our connection to the natural or, indeed, supernatural world. Michaelmas, which signals the end … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest customs, Pannage season
Tagged autumn, cereal, Christian, Christmas, Commoner, custom, dam, deer, drift, Equinox, famine, farmer, feast, festival, foal, fortune, gods, Halloween, harvest, Harvest Festival, hay, mare, Michaelmas, moon, natural, New forest, October, pagan, Pannage, pig, pony, pork, produce, round-up, season, September, smallholder, spirits, spring, straw, supernatural, Tradition, winter
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New Forest: ponies and pigs can be friends
Autumn is definitely here. Pannage season is upon us and the annual pony drifts are currently underway*. During the drifts the semi-feral ponies and foals are rounded up for inspection, released back onto the Forest or taken away to be … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest pony, New Forest Pony Drift, Pannage season
Tagged Agister, commonable, Commoner, equine, familiar, fear, flip out, frightened, horse, livestock, New forest, Pannage, peril, piggy, pigs, pony, porcine, smell, swine, terrified, welfare
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New Forest: pannage, a piggy priority
One of the most significant periods in the New Forest calendar starts in mid-to-late September, when the trees begin to cast their fruit, in the form of acorns, beech-mast and chestnuts. Known as ‘pannage’ it is a time when pigs … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest customs, Pannage season
Tagged Acorn, autumn, bacon, Beech, boar, butcher, chestnut, flavour, Forest, Forestry Commission, hogs, horn, law, Mast, New forest, Pannage, piggy, pigs, priority, swine, swineherd, trees, Verderers
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New Forest: the story of the pig that pointed!
During pannage season pigs undoubtedly become the favourite animal to see in the New Forest. There is nothing quite like the sight of happy porkers that have been set free to root about through the fallen leaves and undergrowth, in … Continue reading
New Forest: pannage, pigs and wild boar
Autumn has got to be one of my favourite seasons of the year. The annual drifts are underway, the heaths and woodlands are changing colour, adding variety to the hues of the already breath-taking scenery, and pannage season has begun. … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest customs, Pannage season
Tagged acorns, Beech, Charles I, chestnuts, Common of Mast, commoners, English Civil War, hunting, New forest, Pannage, pigs, Rights of Common, wild boar
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New Forest: pannage season is for the pigs!
Here piggy, piggy! Pannage season is here! (14 September 2015). Just as the first sight of a swallow in the spring signals the start of summer, so too the sight of pigs loose in the New Forest heralds the beginning … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, Pannage season
Tagged acorns, autumn, Beech, cattle, colic, Common of Mast, Forestry Commission, New forest, oaks, Pannage, pannage season, piglets, pigs, poisonous, ponies, seed harvest, toxic, Verderers
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New Forest: modern tools and ancient practices
Commoning is an agrarian system that has been practiced on the New Forest since before the Norman Conquest in 1066 and is one of the most ancient forms of agriculture known to man. The basic principles, of farming by using … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest Commoner, New Forest pony, New Forest Pony Drift, Pannage season
Tagged access, Agister, commoning, Customs, drifts, emergency services, Forestry Commission, gateway, heritage, horsemen, illegal parking, New forest, Norman conquest, Pannage, point to point, traditions, Verderer, working forest
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New Forest Pannage Season: ‘here piggy, piggy!’
The pannage season has officially started. Residents and visitors may be lucky enough to see the traditional sight of free-roaming pigs foraging on the forest floor from now until November. The term ‘pannage’ is of late Middle English origin and … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner, Pannage season
Tagged acorns, Agisters, Common of Mast, New forest, New Forest pony, Pannage, passage, pig, porcine, swine, tannins, Verderers
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