New Forest Commoner

It’s been revealed that sewage is pouring into the rivers inside national parks at twice the rate that is occurring outside the protected areas threatening the ecology of precious landscapes like the #NewForest

😳

I will be there. I’m encouraging my commoning friends and fellow #NewForest colleagues to join me. #lymedisease

Welcome to the #NewForest. Filly foal, Xluna with her dam, Pippa.

Went into an antique shop today and came out with ankles covered in flea-bites. Is that why they are sometimes called ‘flea markets?’

Lovely to see Pearl-bordered Fritillaries over a wide area of Pignal and Parkhill Inclosures in the New Forest. 27 in 100 mins.

360 panorama of leafless trees against a backdrop of an overcast sky.

Excited to be part of the RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show at the Saatchi Gallery, London where I will be showing 6 of my New Forest panoramas.

The exhibition runs from 13th June to 27th July and is free to enter.
#photography #newforest #rhs #saatchi

🦇The East of England Regional Conference will be held on 12 April 2025, at Ely College and online. This one-day event is an opportunity for anyone interested in bats, to spend time together.
Booking deadline for in-person tickets is 28 March. More info: www.bats.org.uk/EastConf

Legend tells of stallions from the sinking ships of the Spanish #Armada (July 1588) swimming ashore and breeding with #NewForest mares. It’s a charming tale but, for many reasons (not least because no ships were sunk near Hampshire’s coast), it didn’t happen.

DYK, traditionally horses were measured in ‘hands’ (approx. 4 inches) i.e., the span of a man’s hand across the palm. Dealers counted the number of times they could place one hand on top of the other from floor to wither (base of neck where it meets the shoulders) to calculate the horses height.

The free-roaming ponies of the #NewForest live in small bands that are fragmented groups from larger herds. They are semi-feral, rather than wild, and are owned by ‘commoners’ (people with ancient rights) who look after them. #commoning

A reminder of the symphony of colour that sings in summer across the #NewForest. To maintain the harmony, protect the #NewForest newforestassociation.org

“Nature…….where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes.” Rights of Nature, Article 71 of the Ecuadorean Constitution #NewForest

Yes, I saw it too. Worse than tossers!!

It's so disappointing to travel across the #NewForest roads and see the litter tossed from cars onto the verges. Please, don’t be a #tosser - keep the Forest clean and take your rubbish home. #DontBeATosser

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." #NewForest

Smuggling, or 'free-trading' as it was otherwise known, was big business in the #NewForest during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Contraband included tobacco, tea, lace, and spirits. New Forest ponies were employed to carry the illicit goods from the coast to inland 'docks' for dispersal.

Backup grazing is vital to #NewForest commoning by supporting animals when they are not turned out onto the open forest. Backup grazing in the New Forest serves a variety of important ecological, cultural, and economic purposes.

The free-roaming #NewForest ponies get to live their best lives. They can choose their own friends, go wherever they want, find shade or shelter when it suits them, and pick from a wide variety of herbage, vegetation, and minerals. Plus, their commoning owners check on them regularly.

Who to call….. #NewForest

The free-roaming #NewForest ponies were regarded as the ‘tribal god’ to the commoners because they were (are) so important to their culture, economy, and community.

In 1752 the Surveyor General of Woods illegally planted three enclosures - #Pignall, #Etherise, and #Blackbush - for which the Verderers of the #NewForest fined him £40 (approximately £4,700 in today’s money).

A letter written in 1759 said of the character of the #NewForest residents, “I would not hang a dog on the testimony of 50 of them”.

The free-roaming ponies on the #NewForest are perfectly adapted to their habitat and have evolved to cope with even the bleakest conditions.

Any book of Clive’s is also recommended.

The bible of the New Forest was written by Colin Tubbs. It’s a very academic read but worth it. I read widely, not just about the Forest. Context is important. Follow your curiosity.

I’m a geek.

In 1669, Sieur Levin Adam Hague, a companion of the Duke of Brunswick, was permitted to bring over a present of stags in return for ‘16 horses and 6 couple of hounds’. #NewForest

Interestingly, deer populations have fluctuated. In 1662 the Lord Warden of the #NewForest issued a warrant not to kill any deer for three years ‘in order to repair the decay of the deer which took place during the late distractions’ (ie English Civil War).

(De)Fence Month and Winter Heyning were generally ignored and, like now, commoners animals stayed out all year round.