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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New Forest: being called a ‘nimby’ is no joke!

Posted on March 19, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Access to nature is hugely beneficial – not least to our physical and mental health.

I was teasingly called a ‘nimby’ this week. It was during a conversation about the New Forest when I happened to mention that I was a commoner. The person I was talking to laughed and casually said, “Oh, you’re one of those nimby’s then, aren’t you?” My immediate response was one of shock at what I’d heard and my face must have registered a look of indignation because the respondent, on realising they had made a faux pas, coloured up. I was surprised by the fierceness of my reaction, which had been instantaneous, and with the depth of offence that such a careless comment could have provoked in me. I have spent a lot of time since pondering why I found the word ‘nimby’ so offensive. It later occurred to me that in that one sentence was carried so much assumption, prejudice, and insult that its effect on me could not have been any different. Nimby is a pejorative term and acronym, which means Not-In-My-Back-Yard. The phrase was popularised by the media in the 1980s (although some say the term was first used in the 1950s in the post-war development era) and refers to people who are in opposition to anything that imposes on the comfort of their space. It was initially used to describe people who resisted large-scale development, such as housing estates, airports, motorways, business parks and industrial sites, although the term now has a much wider application. These people were (and still are) seen as holding back economic growth and national prosperity by resisting homes, jobs and the expansion of infrastructure.[1] In the media they were (and still are) portrayed as utterly selfish, un-democratic and being predominantly representative of an affluent, privileged ‘Middle England’ class.

More-In-My-Back-Yard 
Consequently, referring to me, a commoner, as a nimby contained an accusation that I was only concerned in preserving my own personal interests with regard to the New Forest; that I was somehow elitist, reactionary, and that I was anti-tourism, anti-cycling, anti-motorist, in fact, anti-everything that impacted the New Forest. However, on the contrary, I believe that access to, and the protection of, nature and the countryside, has an important place in the development of a robust, prosperous economy. Expanding contact with the natural environment by creating more green open spaces, as well as preserving existing landscapes, also beneficially contributes to our mental and physical health. I believe such measures should be a prime objective for any government or community. (The preservation of such landscapes, flora and fauna also has global benefits too.)  I  believe that people should come to the New Forest to enjoy its special qualities, and to support and respect the traditional activities, such as commoning, which have maintained this exceptional landscape for centuries. People should come here, not because they have no other choice, due to a lack of amenity in their neighbourhoods, but because there is nowhere else like it – in terms of biodiversity or human heritage – in the world. I think that every community deserves a public green space in their backyard, which is planned for a variety of plant and animal life, and that offers opportunities for relaxation and recreation to its human inhabitants. I’m not sure what acronym could be applied to that philosophical outlook (perhaps More-In-My-Back-Yard) but I certainly know its not ‘NIMBY’.

The New Forest is a unique landscape developed by an ancient pastoral system.

 

[1] Richard Morrison, ‘Ignore this charge of the nimbys’, The Times (London, England), Friday, November 18, 2011; Tim Webb, ‘Nimby power ‘will lead to higher energy bills’, The Times (London, England), Saturday, September 24, 2011; Deirdre Hipwell and Chris Johnston, ‘Redrow chief rails at Nimbys who would return us to ‘squalor’’, The Times (London, England), Friday, September 09, 2011.

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New Forest: commoning generations

Posted on March 12, 2017 by newforestcommoner

The New Forest is loved for its scenery, wildlife and the free roaming animals.

While visitors to the New Forest, and those lucky enough to reside here, undoubtably appreciate its magnificent scenery, free roaming livestock, and exceptional wildlife, not many would consider the significance to the landscape of the unbroken chain of Forest ancestry that occurs in some of the commoning families. Several of these families span generations that are as old as the oaks and beech trees that make up the ancient woodland. It is tempting to imagine that some may even pre-date the creation of the New Forest in the late 11th century, and to have been resident in these parts when the Saxons referred to the territory as Ytene. To me, the preservation of these human markers of heritage is just as important as protecting the landscape they have nurtured, and been nurtured by, for centuries. Indeed, some writers have described the relationship between the commoners and the New Forest as symbiotic, meaning that effectively one cannot live without the other, which, in my humble opinion, is undoubtedly true. The commoners know the Forest intimately. Scientists examining the Forest’s habitats have often confirmed, using ‘painstaking quantification’ or rigorous scientific method, what has been in the knowledge of generations of commoners. In fact, how many times do we reflect upon the innate skill or abilities of certain people and remark ‘”it’s in their blood”? Long have I suspected, therefore, that many of my commoning friends have inherited memories (and wisdom) about the landscape from their ancestors, as well as the colour of their hair and eyes, shape of their bodies, or height, and so on.

Commoning families
When delving into history and learning about the New Forest, it is inevitable that some of the characters from these commoning families will pop up to present themselves. Sometimes these are people who have done something so extraordinary that their deeds have been recorded for posterity, often reaching a certain level of fame. An example of this is the story of one member of the Purkis family who, according to legend, carried the body of King William II, or Rufus the Red as he was also known, to Winchester after he was killed while hunting in the New Forest in 1100AD. It’s difficult to read anything about the ‘accident or murder conundrum’ of the Red King without learning about Purkis’s involvement in the drama. However, more generally, as I am going about my research into the Forest’s history the names of commoning families repeat in less dramatic but no less significant ways. This could be in the annual accounts of one of the landed estates in or around the Forest, in contemporary newspapers and magazines, the court petty sessions or marked on many of the war memorials that can be found on village greens throughout the New Forest. So, next time you are in the Forest and enjoying the spectacular views, or admiring its wildlife and free roaming animals, spare a thought for the families of the commoners who have been making this possible for generations.

The body of King William I (Rufus the Red) was carried from the New Forest by a commoner.

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New Forest: C19th Verderers on pony-buying spree

Posted on March 5, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Only registered, licenced stallions are permitted to run with the free-roaming New Forest mares.

In early March 1887, the Verderers Court met to discuss Forest issues, chief among these was how best to improve the breeding of New Forest ponies with special reference to the procuring of stallions, purchased by the Verderers, for use on the Forest mares. The Clerk reported that some twenty or thirty commoners had written to him with reference to the question of supplying a stallion for the Forest, and asking the Court to consider the matter. According to the Agisters, who are the specialist stockmen employed by the Verderers, not only was there a scarcity of stallions in the Forest at that time, but they did not know of a good one among them. Colonel Esdaile believed that as the scheme would benefit the commoners he did not see any reason for the Verderers not to pay for it, but stated that stallions from the Forest that were below a certain standard would have to be excluded first. The idea was that four stallions would be purchased and turned out on the following year. A general discussion ensued about the merits of the various pony breeds that might be bought. The Clerk stated that some of the commoners believed that the stallions should be purchased in Wales. Col. Esdaile said that he believed a good selection could be found in Cumberland. He had his eye on one, he said, which had extraordinarily good shoulders, and was what they wanted. In his opinion they could have four short-legged, fine-shouldered ponies. (Col. Esdaile is describing the important qualities necessary in a good a harness-horse, which is what the New Forest ponies would have been primarily used for.)

Pony-buying spree
It was generally agreed that previous attempts to introduce thoroughbreds into the New Forest breed had been useless, and that if commoners wanted thoroughbreds they would have to do so at their own expense. For their pony-buying spree the Verderers wanted a breed that could not only improve the Forest pony but cope with the Forest environment. George Edward Briscoe Eyre suggested that the Court ought to consider the Corsican pony, which he said was wiry and a good worker. To which Mr W G Roy replied, that they might go a little further, and as the Corsican pony lived on rocks they might have a stallion, which lived on nothing – have an Arab, which lived in the Desert. However, after some debate the conclusion of the meeting was found in favour of Welsh ponies, and it was agreed to purchase four. The decision as to whether the stallions were to be turned out on the Forest was postponed until the matter could be discussed at length with the Agisters. Today, of course, the management of the New Forest pony breed is taken much more seriously and, while its lineage does contain other native British breeds only purebred, registered New Forest stallions are now permitted to roam the Forest. The Verderers, nevertheless, remain actively involved in promoting projects to sustain commoning and livestock in the New Forest and still support schemes to protect and maintain New Forest pony bloodlines. I am curious to discover if, during my research, I can find out what happened next and whether the Welsh stallion were purchased or not.

New Forest ponies are adapted to cope the demands of a free-roaming existence.

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New Forest: Do you have ‘Second Person Power’?

Posted on February 25, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Following a good example in road use, can also influence the behaviour of others.

Just recently I’ve been travelling the length and breadth of the New Forest to attend various events and business meetings. These journeys have given me a chance to ponder the topical subject of traffic and speeding across the Open Forest, and to observe the behaviour of my fellow commuters and other travellers. I have to say that my experiences were actually quite positive. In two separate journeys, for example, both lasting over an hour, travelling at no more than 40 mph I was not overtaken once. Not once. In both these journeys there was no other vehicle in front of me, the road ahead was empty, yet every other vehicle stayed behind my car as I went on my way – under the 40 mph limit. At this point, I have to state for the record that I drive an ordinary car, examples of which can probably be found on any run-of-the mill car-dealer forecourt. If I drove a lookalike police car, I could understand the reticence of other drivers in overtaking me. Perhaps this marked observance of the speed restrictions by my fellow travellers was as a result of the publicity and general outrage caused by the recent spate of tragic and, lets face it, avoidable pony deaths on the Forest roads.

Power of the Second Person
This demonstration of law-abiding activity from my fellow journey-makers got me thinking, and I realised that in these instances it was actually the car travelling behind me that was controlling the speed of the journey by not overtaking. Let me explain. There is a theory, known as ‘The Power of the Second Person’, which argues that only when an idea has been adopted by others, rather than the person who first thought of it, does the idea have credibility. Crucially, in this theory it is the second person adopting the idea, or in this case copying the behaviour, who makes all the difference in influencing others. With one car following another, where both vehicles are travelling under 40 mph, cars joining behind are much more likely, according to the theory, to adopt the behaviour of the cars in front and drive at a reasonable speed. (It’s also true that if you are over-taken by one car – even if you are sticking to the speed limit – and the car after them overtakes you too, then the vehicles behind are much more likely to follow suit.) This is a simplistic description, of course, and the theory is certainly not without its counter-argument, but in this instance it does seem to be a compelling explanation for my experience travelling from one end of the Forest to the other. Excessive speed is the most cited reason for the deaths of animals involved in road traffic collisions, and staying under 40 mph on the Forest roads is the best way to avoid a fatal outcome. Therefore, setting or, as demonstrated above, following a good example in road use can also influence others in protecting the road-safety of the free-roaming animals.

The free-roaming animals use the New Forest roads when wandering their territories.

For a fun explanation view this video from Derek Sivers about ‘How to Start a Movement‘.

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New Forest: where’s the her-story?

Posted on February 18, 2017 by newforestcommoner

Forest dwellers in times past were self-sufficient. They grew vegetables and kept animals.

Of all the books I’ve read about the New Forest, it occurs to me that very few relate the New Forest from the feminine perspective or, indeed, tell women’s stories of living or growing up in this unique environment. It also makes me wonder, just how much her-story have we missed by only relating and recording his-story? One outstanding exception to this is perhaps the autobiography of Gilbert Smith, who provides an insight into the lifestyle of a Forest Keeper’s family at the turn of the twentieth century. It’s a book that, for me, has had many laugh-out-loud moments, as he describes his childhood growing up on the New Forest. Although it was a hard life, he is grateful that it was one filled with the things money can’t buy – love, space and freedom – much of which was due to his mother. He describes her in tones of immense admiration and, by his account, was a woman of widespread ability, able to add many creature comforts into their otherwise thrifty lifestyle. (For instance, she would stuff pillows with thistledown and lavender for the children’s beds.) He describes her as a ‘true Forester’ with a marvellous sense of humour, that was quite wicked at times. Their existence was fairly isolated with the nearest neighbour being over a mile away, which meant that they had to be self-reliant. (Gilbert Smith never had a day outside the New Forest until after he’d left school.) The Forest at that time had no electricity, no gas, no telephone, and travel was on unmade dirt tracks either on foot, bicycle, horseback or in a horse-drawn waggon or cart. When her children were young, Smith’s mother pushed them about in a wheelbarrow, as a pram would never have survived the rough tracks.

Tough – little donkeys
It was a very physically demanding existence, without the benefit of the modern technology or labour-saving devices that we take for granted today. All their food was made from ingredients (there was no such thing as processed or convenience food available) and Smith’s mother is described as a ‘magician’ able to conjure up appetising food, with just primitive cooking facilities. Rabbits, caught by the children, sometimes supplemented the protein requirement of the family diet; this, it must be remembered, was before the introduction of myxomatosis to control the rabbit population. Smith’s father, who was a Forest Keeper, was allowed to take some for the pot, but rabbits were generally reserved for the “licensees” who paid to shoot in the Forest. He never seemed to realise just how prolific his children’s hunting was, as his wife never let on and bartered the excess bunnies at Ringwood market, where she also sold any eggs and butter that could be spared. The vegetables they ate came from their own garden plot, and Smith’s mother would make her own chutney and pickles from the surplus. When he was a child Gilbert Smith and his brothers and sisters, would help their mother collect “morning’s wood” for the fire. Mother would push the wheelbarrow and, when it was filled with fallen branches and dried sticks, the children would pull in front on ropes – ‘just like little donkeys’. It was a tough existence.

Survival lessons
As well as the absence of convenience food or labour-saving technology, at this time people were also without the benefit of a National Health Service, and the nearest doctor – who was very expensive – lived many miles away. Any ailments had to be treated with home-remedies made from the plants and herbs growing around their holding, or from vinegar, cider and honey on the comb. Luckily, Smith’s mother was a gifted naturalist, who was herself descended from a line of Forest Keepers, and passed her knowledge on to her children. Smith describes how she impressed upon them all the appropriate “do’s” and an awful lot of “don’ts”. None of these, however, are listed in Gilbert Smith’s book and we can only hope that perhaps they survive in the generations that followed him. Reading this memoir as well as being thoroughly entertaining was, nevertheless, thought provoking. It made me wonder, that if our children were to write about their own upbringing, what sort of memories would they share about us? And, if we ever had to be self-sufficient like the Smith family, just how would we survive?

Gilbert Smith describes himself, and his brothers and sisters, as being like ‘little donkeys’.

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New Forest: animal accidents on Roger Penny Way

Posted on February 12, 2017 by newforestcommoner

The free-roaming ponies use the New Forest road system at all times of the year, day and night.

Over the past couple of weeks (February 2017) there have been a series of collisions on the B3078 – Roger Penny Way – that have resulted in the deaths of several New Forest ponies. In one incident, although the driver escaped with minor injuries, the pony was killed when it went through the windscreen of their VW Polo. Graphic photos of the pony corpses resulting from these several collisions have been made into an awareness campaign circulating various social media sites, and a petition is being organised by animal lovers to reduce the speed limit on that road. Emotions are certainly running high. According to statistics, which are available from the Verderers of the New Forest, the vehicle most associated with animal deaths or injury by far, is the private motorcar; and the driver of that vehicle is most likely to be a local person. The biggest contributing factor cited in the cause of animal deaths on New Forest roads is excessive speed. Indeed, in the same week that the pony deaths, described above, occurred, Hampshire Police Specials, in one shift alone, issued speeding fines to six motorists all doing over 50mph along the B3078, Roger Penny Way.

Decline in animal injury and death
The New Forest is a special place, with special qualities, to which the free roaming, commonable animals are an asset. It is a place unlike anywhere else in the world, and perhaps its speeding laws should reflect that, by imposing fines far more severe than elsewhere. Drivers killing or injuring commonable animals should perhaps face a driving-ban or risk having their car impounded if speed is found to be a significant factor in the incident, and those drivers who commit ‘hit and run’ offences should be dealt with punitively. Maybe the animal corpses ought to be left out beside the roads for longer periods to serve as a warning to road users. Rather than fence more New Forest roads, as has been suggested, perhaps we ought to consider closing them – particularly at night! But, before we get too carried away, when viewed in the bigger picture, there is some hope that the situation may perhaps not be as bad as it seems at present. It could be that these particular incidents, as mentioned above, which occurred over a short period of about a fortnight, coinciding with perilous weather conditions, including dense fog, ice and freezing rain, are actually a series of unfortunate accidents. According to the Verderers’ statistics, the overall trend for collisions, which result in the death or injury of a commonable animal, are actually on the decrease. (These figures are based upon the ratio of animal accidents to the number of animals turned out on the Forest.) This trend needs further analysis but could be due to the actions of statutory organisations, including the Verderers, Police, Forestry Commission, New Forest National Park Authority, Hampshire County Council and New Forest District Council who promote initiatives to reduce the rate of animal death or injury further. Then, of course, added to these efforts are those undertaken by local groups, such as Commoners Defence Association, New Forest Trust, and the Parish Councils; and the overall picture is one of safety for the commonable animals being a concern, not only at the highest level of authority within the New Forest, but widespread across its many communities; indicating that recklessly speeding drivers are truly in the minority.

Animal Casualty sign, which is used to mark the sight of an animal injury or fatality.

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