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: New forest
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: warm welcomes and creature comforts
I went to visit a friend of mine recently for a long overdue catch up over a mug of coffee. This particular friend, a lady with a widespread knowledge of the New Forest, comes from a long established commoning family … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest Commoner
Tagged Aga, axe, caffè latte, Calf, Commoner, creature comfort, dairy, faggots, fire, foal, heat, logs, New forest, puppy, range, smoke, tractor, trailer, welcome, woodstove
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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: old records show crime and lies do not pay
Every now and then I get the chance to sit down and read the newspaper as part of my job. Quite often though, the newspaper in question dates from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. These historical broadsheets make fascinating reading … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged coney, constable, court, crime, criminal, defendant, disorderly, drunk, eighteenth century, Georgian, lies, Lyndhurst, magistrate, New forest, nineteenth century, Oryctolagus cuniculus, Petty Sessions, poach, police, rabbit, shoplifter, trespass, Victorian
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New Forest: animals ‘bottom flossing’
I was talking to some ‘griddler’ friends of mine recently about the joys of living inside the New Forest perambulation. (A griddler is a local term for a non-commoning person who lives inside the cattle-grid zone of the New Forest.) … Continue reading
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: trees – our natural and cultural assets
Without a doubt, the free-roaming animals of the New Forest are an asset to the local economy and, as ‘architects of the Forest’, are one of the most important bio-forces that sustain the ecology and environmental constituency of the landscape. … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest, New Forest flora & fauna
Tagged A3, ancient, animals, Ash, Beech, cedar, chestnut, common, deer, Elm, Forest, Henry VIII, King, Knightwood Oak, landmark, landscape, legacy, M25, New forest, Oak, Queen, RHS Wisley, Royal Horticultural Society, Sheffield, species, tree
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New Forest: biblical weather of yesteryear
This week our annual, late-summer appointment with the chimney sweep occurred, and just as well because there have been a few nights over the past week or so that I’ve been sorely tempted to light a fire in the hearth. … Continue reading
Posted in New Forest
Tagged 1703, agriculture, biblical, Big Freeze, BST, Church, commoning, flood, Fordingbridge, Forestry, gale, Gorely, Great Storm, hogs, hurricane, lead, New forest, Ringwood, River Avon, roof, Royal Navy, St. Mary's, storm, thunder, tornado, weather, wind
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