Woodland
wonderland |
The New Forest in Hampshire dates back nearly 1,000 years to 1079 when William
the Conqueror established the area as a royal forest and hunting ground - his
'Nova Foresta'. The New Forest is a nationally important wildlife environment.
| | New Forest splendour |
The historic New Forest is a nationally important environment comprising
woodland pasture, heaths, bogs and the remains of coppices and timber plantations. Today
its 145 square miles of virtually undisturbed deciduous and coniferous forest
provide excellent opportunities for nature watching, walking and riding. The
forest still retains many of the traditional practices including the pasturing
of cattle, pigs, ponies and donkeys by local people known as Commoners. Over
the centuries the forest has been shaped by man, notably by successive monarchs
who used it for timber, recreation and hunting, and by the Commoners grazing animals. The
New Forest was designated a National Park in 2005. Deer watching Although
the New Forest is no longer a hunting ground, there are still about 1,500 Fallow
Deer living there.
Deer spotting is a popular pursuit, and visitors can
look out for the deer's different coats which change from season to season. The
Fallow Deer has four different coats - the very spotted ones, white spots, creamy
coats, and ones that are almost back? Amongst the other deer in the forest
are Red Deer, Roe Deer and Sika Deer.
One of the best ways to spot these
shy creatures is to look out for deer prints especially in soft mud and by crossing
places near streams. Another great time to watch deer is at dusk, when the
animals like to come out to graze. Another good way of watching these elusive
creatures is from the numerous hides in the New Forest. Also look out for organised
dusk walks to these hides during the Summer. The New Forest deer are carefully
managed and culled in Winter to prevent over-grazing.
By keeping down
the grazing, other nature is allowed to flourish resulting in a renaissance of
plants and butterflies feeding from them. New Forest Ponies One
of the forest's most famous and oldest residents is the New Forest Pony, which
can be seen running loose in the wild.
There have been references to the
New Forest Pony as far back as 1016. Although the ponies appear to be wild, they
are privately owned by the Commoners of the New Forest. The New Forest Pony
is valued for its docility, friendliness, hardiness, strength and sureness of
foot. The areas of the forest occupied by groups of ponies are commonly
called "haunts".  Flowers
and butterflies
The New Forest is of great ecological value, largely because
of the relatively large areas of lowland habitats which still survive. The
area contains several different types of important lowland habitat including valley
bogs, wet heaths and deciduous woodland. The extensive grazing of animals
by Commoners has helped to maintain these habitats, resulting in an abundance
of wildlife. The wet heaths are important for rare plants, such as marsh
gentian and marsh clubmoss, several species of sundew may be found in the Forest,
and the forest bogs are home to the rare insectivore. The forest is also
a haven for many unusual insects, including the Southern Damselfly, the Stag Beetle,
the narrow-headed ant, and the New Forest Cicada, the only cicada native to Britain.
There are also about 35 different varieties of butterfly in the
forest. Photos of woodland courtesy of New Forest
District Council. | 
