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.

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

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.

The Wild Creatures and Forest Laws Act 1971 finally repealed the last vestiges of medieval forest law and with it the right of the sovereign to wild animals (except swans and royal fish). #NewForest

If your home/livelihood are ever more frequently wrecked or threatened by severe flooding, and you've been wondering why, this graphic (plus climate breakdown) tells you all you need to know.

The medieval meaning of 'forest' was a legal term for unenclosed land where the wild beasts were protected for the benefit of the king - rather than a place filled with trees. #NewForest

All nature has a feeling: woods, fields, brooks Are life eternal: and in silence they Speak happiness beyond the reach of books; John Clare (1793-1864)

The free-roaming #NewForest ponies have access to a wide variety of herbage and minerals. They can self-medicate against ailments and internal parasites.

Although the free-roaming ponies can wander all over the #NewForest, they prefer to stay in territories making it easier for their commoning owners to find them. #MeetJosh

Biodiversity is one of the #NewForest’s ‘special qualities’.

A little slice of paradise that just invites you to wander through. Ancient trees lining the River Bure at Horstead come alive with the deep colours of early autumn. #norfolkbroads #broadsnationalpark #naturephotography

I'm looking for Masters students to join my lab in Fall 2025! Work could focus on either field-based studies of plant community ecology and trait-based ecology and/or computational work (on any taxa with data) focusing on questions in community ecology or macroecology.

Bogs and mires are among our most precious (unappreciated) habitats. Experts say that peat is the single biggest store of carbon in the UK, storing the equivalent of 20 years of all UK CO2 emissions and keeping it out of the atmosphere. The #NewForest has many gorgeous examples of bogs/peat mires.

In 1888, Rev. Gunning, the Vicar of Boldre, complained to the Court of Verderers that the 'disgusting' behaviour of the male donkeys on the #NewForest prevented respectable people visiting him and stopped his daughters from looking out of the windows or going out! #OoherVicar

In the year 1198 the legal penalty for trespass against the King's deer was mutilation - such as by the loss of an eye or testicles. (Just imagine if that law hadn't been repealed.) #medieval #NewForest

Once again @savewindermere.bsky.social and @windrushwasp.bsky.social doing the regulators job for them. Shown the enormous extent of illegal sewage pumped into the National Park’s iconic lake. And the Gov’s proposed Water Bill is still doing ZERO to save Windermere.

The establishment, in 1974, of the ‘Sandford Principle’, in which the conservation of the natural environment was to have priority over other demands on the landscape, has enabled the #NewForest to retain much of its ecological biodiversity and cultural heritage. #special

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit." Edward Abbey #special #NewForest

The 'wild' ponies on the #NewForest are actually classified as semi-feral and are all owned by local people with common rights. #commoners #RealNewForest

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

In 1750 Edward Marlet was whipped through the towns of #Ringwood and #Fordingbridge for dangerous wagon driving and banned from driving for life. #NewForest #naughty

In 1955 English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, when aged 82, met some #NewForest gypsies in a pub near the Rufus Stone to collect a #folksong, but their wild singing and dancing got them all thrown out.

Injured livestock or animal accident on the #NewForest? Know who to call: