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.
Tag Archives: Forestry Commission
New Forest: the heritage of the 1960s
In 1966 the Financial Times newspaper published an article about a map of the New Forest that mapping agency – Ordnance Survey – was planning to produce. This map would be different from any previous style of tourist map because … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged 1960s, 1970s, camping, car, caravan, cyclist, Forestry Commission, heath, lilac, map, New forest, Ordnance Survey, purple, riding, tourist, visitor, walker, wildlife
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New Forest: get the picture?
Autumn in the New Forest is a spectacular time of year. The warm colours of orange, russet, and red that are on display in the canopies of the trees and over the heathland contrast with the wintry temperatures on clear … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest flora & fauna
Tagged behaviour, bucks, coitus, dama dama, deer, does, Forestry Commission, get the picture, mating, New forest, orange, photographers, red, rewilding, Royal Photographic Society, RSPB, russet, rut, stags, wildlife harassment
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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: animal accidents on Roger Penny Way
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 … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Animal Road Traffic Accidents
Tagged B3078, car, Commoners Defence Association, commoning, death, driver, Forestry Commission, graphic, Hampshire County Council, image, injury, motorist, New forest, New Forest District Council, New Forest National Park Authority, New Forest Trust, Parish Council, police, ponies, pony, Roger Penny Way, speeding, Verderer
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New Forest: Drivers who are verging on the ridiculous!
Without a doubt the New Forest is a wonderful place to visit. Tourists coming to the area are often awestruck at the sight of ponies, cattle, sheep and pigs wandering freely within the perambulation. They marvel at the landscape that, … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged animals, appreciation, camping, car parks, caravan, cars, cattle, cyclists, ditches, dog-walkers, Don’t Treat Our Verges Like Dirt!, donkeys, Forestry Commission, grass, grazing, horse-riders, National Park Authority, New forest, pigs, ponies, ramblers, ridiculous, vehicles, Verderers, verge, verging, wildlife
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New Forest: self medication and creature comforts
The free-roaming ponies, cows, donkeys and, during pannage, pigs on the New Forest are usually able to take care of themselves and do not require the constant attention required by their intensively farmed or field-kept counterparts. Even the process of giving … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest cattle, New Forest flora & fauna, New Forest pony
Tagged adder, Agister, animals, cattle, commoners, commoning, cows, donkeys, Forestry Commission, healthy, heifer, injured, lame, New forest, pharmacy, pigs, ponies, self medication, sick, snake bite, unwell, venom, Verderer, welfare standards
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New Forest: ‘animal aware’ road users.
In 1903 at Brook occurred the first death of a New Forest animal, a pony, caused by a motor vehicle. Since then livestock injuries and fatalities have become a sad but regular statistic. Information about road traffic incidents, involving commonable … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Animal Road Traffic Accidents, New Forest pony
Tagged animal aware, animals, cattle, donkeys, florescent, Forestry Commission, Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire County Council, high-viz, luminous paint, New forest, New Forest District Council, New Forest Trust, ponies, reflective, road deaths, traffic incidents, Verderers
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The blind man who saved the New Forest.
In the market square of Salisbury stands the statue of Henry Fawcett. Ask most people passing by who he was or what he did to be memorialised in this way and they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you. But … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged 1871 Act, 1877 Act, blind, commoners, Commons Preservation Society, dissaforestation, Forestry Commission, Hansard, Henry Fawcett, John Stuart Mill, New forest, Octavia Hill, Office of Woods, Open Spaces Society, Parliament, post office, public park, Salisbury, Victorian, Welfare State, William Wordsworth
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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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