New Forest: medieval dog maiming

Posted on June 11, 2017 by newforestcommoner

The New Forest was established in 1079 by William the Conqueror as a royal hunting venue.

I was interested to learn recently that the New Forest has more visitors per square kilometre than any other national park (7.5 visits/km2), and that dog walking was the most common reason for visiting the New Forest throughout the year.[1]  This would have been inconceivable when the New Forest was first created in 1079, because the Forest was preserved solely for the King’s hunting pleasure. Indeed, William the Conqueror established harsh laws, including blinding, castration and death, to anyone found guilty of disturbing the game animals (venison) and damaging the vegetation (vert) on which they depended for food and shelter. The Forest Laws he created to preserve his interests prohibited the setting of traps or snares; forbade anyone to carry weapons, especially bows and arrows; and, introduced a procedure to prevent dogs from chasing deer and other game animals by mutilating their front paws. This barbaric practice, known as ‘lawing’ or ‘expediting’, ensured that dogs kept by the people living in and around the Forest were lamed enough to prevent them from chasing and bringing down the venison, but not disable them so much that they were prevented from protecting their master’s home or person.

Rufus Stirrup
The instrument known as ‘Rufus Stirrup’ that hangs in the Verderer’s Court was used specifically to measure dogs.* If the dog was able to fit through the middle of the stirrup, which most small terriers would probably be able to do, they were not maimed, if, however, they were too big to pass through they were permanently lamed. The process of ‘lawing’, or ‘expediting’, is described by one chronicler as follows: ‘the mastiff being brought to set one of his forefeet upon a piece of wood eight inches thick and a foot square, then [a man] with a mallet, setting a chisel two inches broad upon three claws of his forefoot, at one blow doth smite them clean off’.[2] As well as having the middle three toes removed some dogs even had the heel-pad of each front foot removed too. However, the Charta de Foresta of 1217 (an extension of Magna Carta), known as the Commoners Charter, granted two major concessions to the commoners living under the oppressive Forest Laws. Firstly, it codified the forest laws and lessened their severity, substituting the loss of eyes and testicles – for people offending against the venison and vert – with imprisonment for up to a year and a day, with release at any time if bail could be made.[3] Secondly, the Charter reduced the custom of dogs being lawed to places where the practice had existed at the time of the coronation of Henry II. Nevertheless, exceptions could be made. In December 1279, for example, Isabel de Fortibus, Countess of Albemarle, made a plea that the dogs of herself and ‘her men of Old and New Lymington should be quit of the expeditation of their dogs.’[4] The court granted to her that up to thirty-two dogs were exempt from the mutilation of their forepaws.Lucky dogs!  In time the maiming of dogs could be avoided on payment of a fee, and this method seems to have become the standard practice. Over the years the enforcement of dog maiming was relaxed and eventually the barbaric practice was abandoned altogether. I have no doubt that our modern day canine visitors to the New Forest are vastly relieved with this development.

Rufus Stirrup was used to measure dogs – small dogs were left unharmed, bigger dogs were lamed.

*Rufus Stirrup is thought to be a Tudor replica and not the original measuring instrument.

For information about responsible dog walking download the New Forest dog walking leaflet.

Sources:

[1] New Forest National Park website, ‘Facts and Figures – New Forest National Park Authority – 2007’: www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/download/…/tourism_and_recreation_-_facts_and_figures [accessed 11th June 2017] NB: These figures are over 10 years old, and need updating, as they probably woefully underestimate today’s visitor numbers.

[2] John Manwood, Manwood’s Treatise of the Forest Laws (London, 1598), p.96.

[3] Emma Griffin, Blood Sport: Hunting in Britain Since 1066 (Yale University Press, 2007), p. 36.

[4] D. J. Stagg, New Forest Documents: A.D1244 – A.D.1334, (Trowbridge, 1979), 285, p.120.

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New Forest: impressive stallion pedigree

Posted on June 4, 2017 by newforestcommoner

During the stallion season the dynamics of the herds change and the ponies get excited.

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 excitedly. He was a handsome bay pony, probably standing about 14.2 HH, with a glossy coat that shone over a taut muscular physique. He was obviously an experienced stallion, because he was able to keep himself between the herd and the errant gelding, as the pair galloped furiously around the heathland. No matter how hard the gelding tried to get back to the herd of mares this stallion anticipated his opponent and was able to block him. The stallion’s low head carriage and threatening demeanour was a clear sign to all who witnessed the altercation that he meant business. I did not stay to see the outcome, but I have no doubt that the bay stallion came out on top. I was very impressed by the look and manner of this New Forest pony stallion and even more delighted when, a day or two later, a commoning friend informed me that one of my mares was seen in his company. My friend’s description left me in no doubt that my mare was interested in the stallion’s attention, as she was actively flirting with him. However, they only seemed to have stayed together in the same area for a short while, because the stallion moved on to a new territory and left my mare behind. Did they or didn’t they? Fingers crossed. I hope so.

Impressive pedigree
I was interested to discover more about the potential sire of a future foal born to my mare and looked up his pedigree. I was right about him being an experienced stallion because he was foaled in 2001, making him 16 years of age, (48 years old in human years). He has run on the Forest 11 times during the Stallion Season since 2003, and is obviously an established and popular sire. In fact, he has an impressive pedigree with bloodlines that stretch back to the 1690s, which was when William III (& II) and Mary II were on the British throne. Unless you know something about pony breeding it probably won’t mean anything to you when I tell you that this particular stallion has the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk in his breeding. These are the three most influential stallions in English sporting history. He even has Eclipse, one of the most famous thoroughbred racehorses of all time, on both sides of his pedigree. Eclipse (foaled: 1 April 1764 – died: 26 February 1789) was an undefeated champion who won 18 races, including 11 King’s Plates. I was certainly captivated when I first saw the bay stallion running free on the Forest but now, having learned about his impressive lineage, I am hoping that his liaison with my mare will have been fruitful. I should have an idea by December whether or not my mare is in foal, as by then her belly will be showing tell-tale signs. What an amazing Christmas present that would be!

Eclipse is one of the most famous racehorses in history – an undefeated champion of the turf.

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New Forest: C19th waste land or allotments

Posted on May 28, 2017 by newforestcommoner

In 1870 a meeting was held to discuss turning the New Forest into allotments for the working poor.

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 following year the government placed a Bill before Parliament ‘to disafforest the New Forest’, meetings such as these were presumably held to test the waters for the government’s plan.] One of those attending the meeting, a Mr. George, who was described as a working man, declared that, the first and most important thing for the sustenance of the poor was that all lands fit for cultivation should be used to supply the people’s wants. In his opinion there were many thousands of acres of land lying waste that ought to be made available. Bringing such lands into cultivation, he believed, would remedy pauperism. His idea was that the New Forest should be divided into small allotments for those men willing to work for their daily bread. Under this proposal more produce would be brought into the market and ‘the capitalist would lose his power of controlling the prices in the markets’. Mr. George proposed that large tracts of fertile land in the New Forest be appropriated for cultivation, but not allowed to pass into private hands. He suggested that the land should be allotted on sufficiently long terms to ‘give a durable interest in the soil’, and the least fertile parts be still left open in a state of wild natural beauty.

Dairy imports
Other attendees at the meeting thought this a good scheme. Captain Mayse, R. N., agreed with the suggestions, as he believed that with the waste land under cultivation using ‘an enlightened land system’, the country would be able to ‘sustain treble its present population’. He also spoke of the ‘enormous amount of dairy produce imported into this country’, which he believed would not be necessary if small farming systems could be pursued, and remarked on the ‘evils’ of allowing large tracts of land to accumulate in the hands of private persons. His vision was one of small cultivators working together in co-operatives or as independent smallholders. Others attending the meeting were enthusiastic for this idea, with one recommending the cultivation of beetroot as a profitable crop. Another gentleman present, a Mr. Ashby, tried to curb the eager imaginings of his colleagues by reminding them that the poor people, who would benefit from this scheme and be given the allotments, would need a certain amount of capital to start with. This raised the issue of who would supply the funds required to start them off.

Rights of Commonage
Mr. Joseph Hill, on the other hand, had a different view entirely. He pointed out the great benefit to the people of Southampton and neighbouring towns, of the ‘very many’ tourists who came to visit the New Forest. He remind those at the meeting that the New Forest was subject to certain rights of commonage, pasturage, pannage and fuel, which would first have to be disposed of, and he could not see how this could be achieved without paying compensation. There was, he pointed out, other land nearer to Southampton, which had already been taken out of the Forest for cultivation and would be better for agriculture than the waste lands under consideration. His remedy to assist the working man was to abolish some of the inheritance laws, such as primogeniture and entail, which naturally favoured the rich landowners. Mr. Hill’s comments were roundly criticised by Mr. T. Falvey, who was in favour of the scheme for allotments on the New Forest, as he believed that this would be ‘a practicable scheme for the partial depopulation of their over-crowded towns’. The meeting was eventually adjourned and, although the majority of those in attendance favoured enclosing the New Forest and bringing it into agriculture, the scheme did not secure popular support. Attempts to enclose the Forest at this time were in fact met with nationwide condemnation and protest. Indeed, the outcry was so intense, from all parts of the country, that the New Forest was preserved by an Act of Parliament, which was passed on 23rd July 1877. The New Forest Act 1877 gave legal protection to the New Forest, reconstituted the Verderers Court to act as its guardian, and ensured that the rights of the commoners were preserved.

The practice of commoning, which has existed uninterrupted for over a thousand years, is still the dominant influence over the Forest’s ecology, economy and community.

Sources:

PROPOSED ENCLOSURE OF THE NEW FOREST . The Hampshire Advertiser (Southampton, England), Saturday, May 28, 1870.

New Forest Act 1877: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Vict/40-41/121/contents

See also:

Peter Roberts, Saving the New Forest (Lyndhurst, 2016). This book ‘explains how a small group of people in the mid-nineteenth century became seriously worried at the steady increases year on year in the enclosure of land in the Forest for timber production, and in 1867 decided in very British fashion to set up an association to rescue it. In 1871 the government placed a Bill before Parliament ‘to disafforest the New Forest’, which would have left just 100 of the 60,000 acres for the Commoners to exercise their rights and for the public to enjoy’.

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New Forest: the rare brown hare

Posted on May 21, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Brown hares were once found in the New Forest but are now rarely seen, if at all.

On a recent journey away from the Forest, where I had the pleasure to be a passenger rather than the driver, I was able to look out of the window and admire the scenery instead of concentrating on the road as usual. Passing a wide expanse of grassland I spotted the tell tale silhouette of a brown hare (Lepus europaeus), as it moved through the sward. This is an outline so distinctive that there is no other creature that can even begin to resemble it. Though in some circumstances hares are often mistaken for rabbits (or the other way around), which is much the same as confusing horses with cows. Thankfully for the uninitiated there are other clues, both physical and environmental, that reveal its true identity. Hares, for instance, are much bigger than rabbits and have longer, larger ears with a black tip to the ends. Hares are predominantly solitary creatures, though a lack of choice in places for them to eat may mean that they band together when feeding at suitable locations. Rabbits, on the other hand, are sociable; living in groups, know as herds – just like horses and cows. Hares live above ground in a ‘form’, which is a shallow depression in the ground or grass, and their only defensive strategy is to run from predators (now you understand why they need larger, longer ears – to hear their enemies coming). Rabbits live under the ground in burrows, often with a system of warrens, which they will run to, and hide, if threatened. The offspring of the rabbit is known as a ‘kitten’ or ‘kit’, whereas the offspring of a hare is known as a ‘leveret’. Rabbits make excellent companion animals, but hares are completely unsuited to life in captivity as pets – though many have tried to tame them.

Hare in decline
Hares were once found in the New Forest, but are now rarely encountered, if at all. According to the Hare Preservation Trust, during the late 1800s there were about four million brown hares in Britain, but their numbers have declined by more than 80% during the past 100 years and the decline continues.[1] There are several factors identified as possible causes for the loss of brown hares in our countryside, including changes in farming practices that are not sympathetic to the hare’s lifestyle. In the New Forest, common opinion points to the rise in the number of dogs allowed to run off the lead. Even our most docile pet, once off the lead and free to run, will follow their instinct and begin hunting.[2] Unfortunately, hares leave their young in the form, only returning once a day for the first four weeks to feed them. During this time the leverets are vulnerable to predation from dogs. The baby hares can be killed and eaten without the dog owner even realising that it’s happened. Adult hares can reach speeds of up to 72 km.p.h (45 m.p.h)[3] and are pound for pound are faster than a cheetah, so are unlikely to be caught by dogs; it is the loss of baby hares that is a another factor in their population decline. In order to preserve this fascinating and alluring species it is up to us to be mindful of their young during their breeding season, which lasts from February until September.  This is true for other wild creatures, including our ground nesting birds, and another good reason to stay on the designated tracks with our dogs under control when out enjoying the New Forest.

The New Forest is a landscape of irreplacable habitats that supports a diversity of wildlife.

SOURCES:

[1] BBC Nature website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/European_Hare

[1] Hare Preservation Trust website: http://www.hare-preservation-trust.co.uk/status.php

[2] Colin Tubbs, The New Forest, History, Ecology, Conservation (Lyndhurst, 2001), p. 329.

See also: Mammal Society Species Fact Sheet: Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus)

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New Forest: “I thought it would be bigger!”

Posted on May 7, 2017 by newforestcommoner

The New Forest is a landscape without equal.

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 young relative who had never visit the area before. They reached the junction at Cadnam and turned off the M27 to travel north on the B3079. It was a beautiful day by all accounts. The sun was shining gently, and the lush greens of the grasses, hedgerows and unfurling leaves of the trees were contrasted by the bluest of cloudless skies. At the entrance to the B3079 was a speed restriction sign, which clearly displayed the words ‘New Forest 40’. At this point they travelled over the cattle-grid, crossing the metal poles placed across an open pit in the ground, which are laid to prevent the livestock from straying off the Forest. This was something the young relative had never seen before and the sensation of the crossing proved to be quite a talking point. However, when they had travelled as far as Brook, the youngster loudly declared their disappointment. My astonished friend enquired why that could be, and the young relative answered, “Well, I thought the New Forest would have been bigger than that”. It transpired that the young relative, confused by the wording on the village sign, believed that they had already left the New Forest. My friend laughed to think that after extolling the virtues of this wonderful landscape, its flora and fauna, and free-roaming livestock to the young relative, they could only conceive of such a small area.

Cultural and natural asset
Of course, the boundary, or perambulation, of the New Forest has changed over time and was once much bigger than the 150 sq. miles (388 sq. km) it is now. In fact, at one point it is believed that a third of the whole area of England was designated, like the New Forest, as a royal forest. The forests were places where forest law, rather than common law prevailed and, according to a treatise, written in 1598, was a …certain Territory of woody grounds & fruitful pastures, privileged for wild beast and fowls, of Forest, Chase and Warren, to rest and abide in, in the safe protection of the King, for his princely delight and pleasure… Traditional management practices, such as commoning, which were supported by the forest law system, created a rural landscape throughout the country that would have been familiar to everyone. Indeed, once upon a time the city would have been an alien landscape, as the majority of people lived in the country rather than the other way around, as it is today. So, I suppose my friends’ young relative travelling from our nation’s capital can be forgiven for not recognising one of our country’s greatest cultural and natural assets – the New Forest. The story at least has a happy ending. My friend was able to show the young city dweller the delights of the New Forest’s historic landscape, including its free-roaming livestock; and to re-experience, through the eyes of the next generation, the wonder and excitement of such a discovery.

Traditional management practices, particularly commoning, have conserved the ecological diversity of the Forest.

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New Forest: itchy, scratchy, lousy!

Posted on April 22, 2017 by newforestcommoner

The bluebells that carpet the woodlands are a popular sight with visitors to the New Forest.

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 enclosures. I could see spots of blue beginning to emerge from underneath the leaf-litter of the forest floor, but not the profusion of azure set amongst the verdant green colours that one normally associates with the bluebell season. I knew that I’d have to be patient and wait a day or two more to get the full effect of this most pleasing display. I nevertheless continued on and emerged from the other side of the enclosure a mile or two from my normal walking route. I hadn’t gone very far before I came across a herd of ponies quietly grazing beside the track. In their midst was a young bay pony that I’ve been missing for a while. I was pleased to see her again and, although she looked up momentarily, she continued to graze without really registering my presence. Her companions ignored me totally. I was able to quietly appraise my filly’s condition, and she looked generally as ponies do at this time of year, particularly if they have lived out all winter. I noticed that she had been rubbing herself, as small bald patches were showing on her coat. On closer inspection I could see that she was carrying lice.

Ponies with lice
There are several types of lice that can live on equines, but in this case the culprit was Damalinia equi. This wasn’t entirely a shock, as lice are a common sight on the free-roaming animals, particularly at this time of year. (Lice are not confined to the semi-wild populations of free-roaming New Forest ponies and donkeys, but also affected stable-kept horses, ponies and donkeys too.) Damalinia are biting parasites that can be seen with the naked eye, and prefer to feed on areas of the pony with shorter body hairs, such as the neck, flanks and around the base of the tail. The patches on my pony were behind her front legs, but were not extensive or deep. The bite of the Damalinia is very itchy and you may notice some ponies exhibiting scratching-behaviour in the spring, which most people associate with the shedding of their winter coats, but could in fact be caused by lice. Of course, if she were one of my home-kept ponies I would be able to wash her with the appropriate veterinary treatment, but semi-wild ponies are a different proposition, as they do not like to be handled – let alone bathed!  Now that I know the area she is in, and have identified the ponies she is with, I should be able to find her again. I will keep an eye out and make sure that she doesn’t become infested with lice or suffer as a result of her scratching. Luckily, New Forest ponies are able to cope well with parasites and do not seem to be affected by lice in the summer months. Further good news is that Damalinia equi are species specific and, while they can crawl on you, they won’t bite you. This is, of course, another good reason why visitors to the New Forest should just look at the ponies and not touch them.

New Forest ponies have thick coats to keep them warm and dry in winter; but parasites, such as lice, can find them cosy places to breed and feed.

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New Forest: Look, but don’t touch the animals

Posted on April 16, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Visitors who feed the New Forest ponies, and other livestock, are teaching them not to fear humans or cars.

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 donkey foal into the lap of a child seated on the ground, so that the mother could take a photo. (Readers with access to social media may have seen similar images and videos doing the rounds of people rolling around on the floor cuddling baby elephants and thoroughbred foals etc.) My outraged follower was incensed by such an exhibition of cruelty, and asked if there was at least a fine for feeding the animals in the New Forest. The short answer is, of course, yes. There is a fine of £200 and the risk of a criminal record, if you are successfully prosecuted for feeding a commonable animal in the New Forest.

Under the New Forest Byelaws (Statutory Instruments 2010, No. 993), Section 16:
(1) No person other than the owner, or a person appointed as their agent or an agister shall hand feed or attempt to hand feed any horse, bovine animal, sheep or pig depastured in the Forest.
(2) No person shall place in the Forest any material that might be consumed by horses, bovine animal, sheep or pigs depastured in the Forest, except that the owner or a person appointed as their agent may place straw, hay or other feedstuffs approved by the Verderers in the Forest for the benefit of the owner’s horses, bovine animal, sheep or pigs in such places as shall have been previously approved for that purpose by the Verderers.
(3) In this byelaw “agister” means a person who is for the time being employed or appointed as an agister by the Verderers.

The New Forest’s free-roaming livestock (ponies, donkeys, cattle, pigs and, in some areas, sheep) are owned by local people with ‘common rights’, who are responsible for the care and maintenance of their animals. (The animals are not wild, therefore, but semi-feral.) New Forest common rights are administrated and protected by the Verderer’s, who have the power and legal status of a magistrate. The Verderers employ Agisters, whose job it is to assist the commoners and make sure that they keep their animals to an appropriate standard. Visitors who feed the animals are interfering with their upkeep.

Big no-no!
The reason that feeding the Forest animals is such a big no-no is because it seriously jeopardises their safety and welfare. Hand feeding encourages aggression, because the animals demand food from visitors and often get very upset when there is none or when the supply runs out. People feeding the waterfowl, at places like Hatchet Pond, are often surrounded by donkeys insisting on being fed too. Some visitors, in trying to protect the food for the ducks and swans, have been chased and even mugged by the animals jealous for their share. Hand feeding also teaches the ponies and donkeys to bite. Visitors unused to holding out titbits for equines can be very tentative about offering them an outstretched palm bearing food. This faltering motion teaches the ponies and donkeys to lunge, in order to try and quickly snatch the proffered food. Many people are bitten in this scenario dropping the food as a result. The animals then learn that if they just bite they’ll get the food that was dropped on the floor by the nervous visitor. This aggressive (and learned) behaviour can lead to the permanent removal from the Forest of the offending pony or donkey, which is not fair to an animal that was born there. Animals displaying bad behaviour or violence to humans are difficult to sell on, do not make good pets, and in extreme cases may have to be put down.

Human Food is not animal food.
Hand feeding or leaving food out on the verges also encourages the animals into the car parks and onto the roads, where they are exposed to the dangers of vehicular traffic. I have seen ponies squabbling over a pile of apples left by a busy roadside, completely oblivious to the passing traffic in their fight for the food. I even heard this week that a woman has been seen driving through a village in the northern part of the Forest throwing handfuls of carrots onto the verge as she drives along in her car! Some people actually feed the New Forest animals from inside their cars, we know this because they take photos and happily post the results on social media. These people are in effect training the ponies and donkeys not to fear cars, caravans or other motorised transport. Consequently, people who feed the animals are directly contributing to the number of ponies and donkeys killed or injured on the Forest roads. There is also another important point – human food is not animal food. There are certain foodstuffs, particularly picnic treats and snacks, which are not good for ponies and donkeys to eat. Items such as potatoes, either as chips or crisps, chocolate, tomatoes and onions are toxic to all equines. Other foods can even give the animals a serious or fatal colic, and anything containing meat should not be fed to a herbivore. The free roaming animals of the New Forest are an asset to the local economy, its cultural heritage, and are symbolic of its special qualities. There is enough natural food available on the Open Forest to sustain the free roaming animals, without them being fed by visitors. The best way to appreciate the animals is to look and not touch. If you are concerned, however, about the condition of any animal in the New Forest then please contact the Verderers’ Office and report it.

Hand feeding the New Forest animals, however well-intentioned, is prohibited by law.

Know who to call for incidents involving the commonable livestock of the New Forest:
(contact the Forestry Commission regarding deer and other wildlife).

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New Forest: animal accidents – multiple causes/multiple solutions

Posted on April 8, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Animal road accidents are always a concern, but more so when the foals are born in spring.

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 radio broadcasts, and attending meetings where the subject of speeding cars, hit-and-runs, and the toll of livestock inevitably surfaces for discussion. As I go about the Forest and see the in-foal mares who will soon be giving birth to the next generation of free-roaming pony I sigh deeply and hope that ways to address the situation can be found – and soon. I say ‘ways’ because this is a problem that has multiple causes, including visitors feeding the ponies in the car parks and on the roads; drivers speeding; and, drivers not paying attention or not driving according to the road conditions. Therefore it is an issue that will need multiple solutions, such as discouraging the unauthorised feeding of the ponies; making the road surfaces lighter in colour in order to make animals on the roads, particularly at night, stand out more; perhaps returning some of the roads to gravel tracks, to slow drivers down and make them drive with more care; and even reducing the speed limits or closing some roads between dusk and dawn. These solutions would be much more preferable to that of fencing the Open Forest roads and installing road-bridges for the animals to cross, as has also been suggested. There are, it has been offered, even technological solutions that may help in the future, such as driverless cars and cars that can warn the driver of nearby ‘obstacles’, such as animals in the road, but these are a long way from being perfected.[1]

Green solution
There are also environmental ways of helping to solve the problem. One such ‘green solution’ uses the stream and wetland restoration works, which reinstate the natural functions of the Forest’s catchment system. Many of the Forest’s mires and streams were damaged by the man-made drainage channels, which were installed for timber production in the 19th and 20th centuries. Although reducing animal accidents is not the main reason for undertaking such restoration work it does seem to have some very beneficial outcomes for the animals of the New Forest. Wetland restoration improves the grazing by allowing the natural cycle of flooding to return, which covers areas with nutrient-rich water. This action provides an important source of grazing for commoners’ animals, particularly in the early spring when the first flush of growth precedes the growth of most grasses.[2] This means that the animals stay in the valleys to graze for longer periods, keeping them away from the roads and dangers of the traffic.

Whose responsibility is it?
The responsibility for reducing the rate of animal accidents is shared between all of us who use of the Forest roads – although many organisations, communities, and road-user groups do undertake initiatives to address the problem. Fortunately, there has been a reduction in the overall numbers of animals killed or injured on the Forests’ roads, and the trend continues downwards, but many would argue that one death is a death too many, and that we must not become complacent. The free-roaming livestock have right of way on all roads, and must be given priority. The commoners’ animals that roam the New Forest are an intrinsic and vital part of its alluring landscape. The sight of ponies, cattle, donkeys, pigs and, in some areas, sheep, is one of the many joys of visiting the New Forest. The reduction of animal accidents is, therefore, part of a wider scheme to improve the New Forest environment to the benefit of all. Safer roads for ponies are safer roads for all. In the meantime the campaign to raise awareness and implore drivers to stay under the 40-mile an hour speed limit continues.

Flood water carries nutrients, which enriches the grazing for the New Forests’ livestock.

NB: This link contains an ‘Animal Accident map’, by species, between 2011-2015, showing were collisions with livestock have occurred.

Sources:

[1] BBC News website, ‘Driverless car test call over New Forest animal deaths’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-39441355

[2] George Peterken, Jonathan W Spencer, Alison B Field, ‘3.8 – Rivers and Wetlands’, Maintaining the Ancient and Ornamental Woodlands of the New Forest, available at: http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/newforest/public/resources/strategy.html

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New Forest: spring-time musings

Posted on April 2, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Last year’s haymaking produced a bumper crop of backbreaking work.

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 harrow, re-seed and fertilise the winter pasture ready for summer haymaking? The weather, it seems, was much wetter in 2016 and for a while I was worried about the fields getting too poached, which is when areas get over-used and broken up under the ponies hooves, such as around gateways or troughs, and become overly muddy. This would have had an impact on the hay crop, because any muddied areas would have to be repaired and re-seeded and, if they didn’t recover in time, would consequently affect the hay yield. As it happens, last year was a bumper harvest and, like many of my horse-owning friends, I still have plenty of hay left over from last year. All due, no doubt, to the prolonged  spring rains. Now, of course, I have the quandary of – do I dispose of last years hay and take a new crop? Or, do I try to make do with the year-old hay and not have to worry about the backbreaking work at harvest time? Decisions! Decisions! When so much depends upon the prevailing weather conditions it is difficult to make definite future plans. Last years events in my diary, it seems, are a merely guide and not a blue-print.

African migrants
Also, I noticed, at this time last year I received the advance-party of my regular African visitors – the migrating swallows (Hirundo rustica). I always reserve a stable for their use during the summer, as the ponies have no use for it. Their mud nests adorn the walls, ceiling and beams, but the mess they made (and they do make a lot of mess) will have been cleared up as part of my winter maintenance. I have peeked quietly inside the stable and, as yet, there is no sign of them. They are welcome visitors to my holding because each day they eat thousands of the flying insects that pester the ponies. I wait with anticipation for their arrival. I know for certain that the cuckoos (Cuculus canorus), which announce their arrival from about mid-April, are on their way however. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is tracking an individual bird, named Selborne, on his journey to Hampshire. Selborne was ringed in the New Forest last year and given his name by the Hampshire Ornithological Society (HOS) in memory of Gilbert White, who was a pioneering 18th century naturalist and ornithologist from Selborne in east Hampshire. The bird’s progress across the digital map, on the BTO website, reminds me of the NORAD Santa tracker that children watch avidly at Christmas time. For an amateur ornithologist, such as myself, the track across my laptop screen getting ever closer to home is viewed with the same excited anticipation. He’s currently in Spain and, hopefully, will arrive safe and sound in the next week or so and, as cuckoos are traditionally the heralds of spring, let’s hope he doesn’t take any longer.

The cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)  is a regular visitor to the New Forest and is heard rather than seen.

To followed Selborne’s progress please visit: https://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking/selborne

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Garden waste has no place on the New Forest.

Posted on March 25, 2017 by newforestcommoner

The Verderers Court is one of the oldest in the British judicial system.

This week I attended the Verderers Court in Lyndhurst, which one of the oldest courts in the British judicial system. It has recently undergone refurbishment, and the freshly painted walls are a more muted beige tone than the previous ‘ox-blood’ pink colour. The interpretation area has received some attention and is now encased in a smart wooden cabinet. Other than that, the familiar stag’s heads adorn the walls, and the dock, verderers benches, and public benches are the still the same. Attendance at court was good, which always bodes well for the tearooms and coffee shops in the High Street. The court business this time was a very swift affair, as there were no presentments made. (A presentment is when people attending submit a formal statement to the court of a matter to be dealt with by the Verderers.) Therefore, the only person to speak, other than the Head Agister, who gives his traditional opening salutation, was the Official Verderer. The Official Verderer reminded everyone that with spring approaching many people would be in their gardens mowing their lawns and clipping their hedges. Unfortunately, as he pointed out, some people then feed that garden waste to the ponies, either by tipping it over their fences or by dumping it on the Open Forest, thinking that they are giving the ponies a tasty treat. (Or some contractors illegally fly-tip garden waste rather than pay to have it disposed of correctly.) However, this method of disposal can have serious health consequences for the ponies and even cause a fatal colic.

Horses and ponies fed mown grass-clippings can die
It does seem strange that an animal that eats grass isn’t somehow able to eat mown grass-clippings. But it’s true. Normally, ponies will eat grass in small mouthfuls that are selected from a wide area and chewed slowly, where it can be mixed with saliva. When presented with mown grass-clippings large mouthfuls can be taken and swallowed without being chewed effectively or diluted by the natural fluids in the mouth. But the real danger comes from the fermentation process of the mown grass-clippings as they decompose. This process generates a lot of heat (if you’ve ever put your hand inside a pile of mown grass-clippings you’ll understand how much) and, when ingested, this action produces gas. Ordinarily, the grass that is eaten during normal grazing activity begins to breakdown at a much later stage in the pony’s digestive system and the resultant gasses are passed out of the body as wind. Because mown grass-clippings decompose more quickly, the gasses they produce arrive earlier in the digestive system and have the potential to cause an agonising belly-ache or, in some cases, fatal internal ruptures. Unlike other animals, equines cannot burp, regurgitate or vomit, meaning that any poisonous or noxious substance that is ingested cannot be expelled through the mouth. So, the best thing is not to put dangerous foodstuffs there in the first place! The message to gardeners is: Please dispose of your garden waste responsibly and do not dump it on the Forest. Householders employing contractors to attend to any garden projects must ensure that they are using respectable tradespeople who dispose of waste in the appropriate (legal) manner. To all Forest users the message is: To protect them from dietary-related injury or sickness, please do not feed the ponies – your kindness can kill.

Garden waste should be disposed of responsibly and not dumped on the Forest. 

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