Issue No: 2 Spring / Summer 2017 FOREST MATTERS

In the news 1 The first of our Anniversary events; critiquing the FC’s Forest Design Plan process; saving the Forest’s churchyard monuments; HLS AGM report; the Chief Verderer’s farewell.

Opinion 9 Keith Howe on balancing recreation and conservation.

The Forest’s coastal challenges 10 Clive Chatters examines the fine balance between competing demands along the coastline.

What are common rights? 12 What are they and how did they arise? Graham Bathe attempts to separate fact from fiction.

Eradicating non-native species 14 Catherine Chatters describes the efforts of volunteers to clear away unwanted invasive plant life.

Woodgreen Community Shop 18 The story of how a community group built a new shop and Post Office as the old one was closing, told by chairman Ron Trevaskis.

Book review 20 Walks: A seasonal wildlife guide, by Andrew Walmsley FOREST MATTERS is the magazine of the Friends of the New Forest. Issue 2: Letter from our Chairman Spring/Summer 2017 2017 – our Anniversary year – started with a flourish. The launch event to celebrate 150 years turned into a must-be-at New Forest occasion, Views expressed in starting with a keynote address from Clive Chatters. All seats were “sold Forest Matters are not out” for The New Forest: a foot in the past and an eye to the future well necessarily those of the before the day and we were passing on cancellations to a long waiting Friends of the New Forest. list. With responses to Clive’s presentation from Alison Barnes – Chief Executive to the National Park Authority, Bruce Rothnie – Deputy Surveyor, Dominic May – Official Verderer, as well as from a cross-section of the Please contact the editor 200 people in the audience, including Commoners, long-standing at [email protected] residents, recent incomers and many more, there was much thought- with any contributions for provoking debate. or comments concerning It was not an evening to solve all of the issues threatening or supporting this publication. the Forest’s future, but they were well examined. It remains to be seen whether the Forest is fated to continue down what some see as the present path of decline into becoming just another Suburban Park The deadline for the hemmed in by development all around and overrun by too many people, Autumn/Winter 2017 issue too much activity and too many vehicles; or whether, more optimistically, is: 30 August 2017. the Forest can be saved to be enhanced and adequately protected into the future to be the place described in our Association’s vision? But many challenges (and some achievements) were identified in the course of the Unattributed photographs evening. There seems to be an emerging consensus that, particularly with are understood to have respect to recreation management, it feels like now is one of those been taken by the author moments for bold decision-making. or submitted with the photographer’s permission. As always, the year seems to have been rushing by since then and, at our AGM in April, we took some time to review the state of the Forest measured against the aspirations and intentions of our published Cover image: “Agenda”. There have been some significant achievements to restore and Latchmore improve the landscape and habitats of the Forest, particularly benefitting by Peter Roberts from funding through the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme (whose AGM is reported on page 6), and we will continue to work with and try to push along the Forestry Commission and National Park Authority to achieve Design and layout by more. The AGM also saw the election as Association Trustees of Keith Philippa Firth Braithwaite, as Secretary, and Gale Gould, as Vice Chair. www.philippafirth- Much harder to resolve remains the impact on the Forest of a relatively graphicdesign.com small area trying to absorb ever-increasing recreational pressures predominantly from the day visits of nearby residents. This can only increase further because Council now seems to be Printed by determined to propose further large-scale residential development Document Despatch, within the remaining and diminishing area of undeveloped countryside Basingstoke, alongside the Forest’s borders. www.documentdespatch. Engaging with the District Council local plan process and with a review com of the National Park Authority’s Recreation Management Strategy will absorb much of the time and energy of our committees and Council for the remainder of 2017 and beyond. Copyright © 2017 The New Forest Association By the time you receive this magazine we will have had a stand at the Registered Charity Roydon Woods Woodfair. If I did not see you there, I look forward to No. 260328 meeting and talking to you at our stand at the New Forest Show from 25 to 27 July.

John Ward Our 150th Anniversary events so far

We began the year with a very the Verderers. Several Trustees and Chairman John Ward followed this successful public meeting in Council Members joined Friends with a talk examining what we Lyndhurst in January all about Members, including representatives are doing about the issues in the where the New Forest is going from several town and parish Association’s “Agenda” for action, and the challenges before us today, councils, which are affiliated giving examples and raising points starting with a thought-provoking Members. about which everyone who loves talk by Clive Chatters, Council the Forest should be concerned. Members enjoyed a double Member of the Friends of the His talk, challenging at times, visit in Lyndhurst in March. First New Forest. Clive spoke movingly was described as inspirational we met in the Verderers Court about how he views the current and giving those present good for an illustrated talk by Head state of the Forest and where reasons for being a Member. Agister Jonathan Gerrelli. His he sees the challenges, not only After lunch, Members were able comprehensive presentation for the many local Forest interest to visit Furzey Gardens to enjoy described the vital role of the groups but also for all those whose them in warm sunshine, or the Verderers Court and the Agisters lives intersect with the Forest. Study Centre, where the in supporting Commoners, whose Head and a trustee gave a most Clive’s talk was followed by livestock provide the most efficient interesting guided tour, describing responses from Alison Barnes, and cost-effective means of the Centre’s innovative work with Chief Executive of the New Forest maintaining the special qualities of school children from Hampshire National Park Authority, Bruce the landscape of the unenclosed and beyond. Rothnie, Deputy Surveyor for the Forest. Jonathan then answered New Forest, Forestry Commission, questions before the group moved and Dominic May, Official Verderer. a little way down the road to There was then plenty of time for the church of St Michael and All the audience to debate the future Angels, where we were greeted by of the Forest. churchwarden Ann Rogers. In February, a cross-section of Local historian Angela Trend gave a people who care for the New fascinating talk about the building Forest attended the 150th of the church in the 19th century, Sloden Inclosure walk Anniversary lunch of the Friends. its spectacular brickwork, and The lunch was held at MJs how it was fortunate to acquire restaurant at College, frescos and stained-glass windows For a complete change, a group where students on the Hospitality by some of the leading artists of of 20 Members enjoyed a walk and Catering courses prepare and the pre-Raphaelite period, and an in Sloden Inclosure early in May, serve delicious meals to a very high orchestra of wonderfully carved guided by New Forest Verderer standard. Belinda, Lady Montagu, wooden angels. Anthony Pasmore. Warning his Patron of the Friends, was In April we held our AGM and listeners that he was going to show accompanied by Mary Montagu- Members Event at Minstead Village them things they probably couldn’t Scott from the New Forest Centre. Hall. Following a short business see, he led the party round various Oliver Crosthwaite Eyre was there meeting, Peter Roberts, who sites of archaeological interest – in his role as President of the authored our book on the history inclosure boundaries from various Friends, but also representing the of the organisation, delighted his periods, a charcoal pit, Roman National Park Authority of which audience with an entertaining pottery kilns and a water-heating he is Chairman, as well as Steve illustrated talk about the lighter pit among them. It was a fine Avery, National Park Executive side of the Association’s history, sunny evening, the Forest looked Director for Strategy and Planning. ending with a heartfelt appeal to wonderful, and group members Graham Ferris represented the Members to fight to save the many agreed that they would look at Commoners Defence Association, flora and fauna that make the lumps and bumps in the Forest and Dionis Macnair attended for Forest such a very special place. floor in a new way from now on.

Spring/Summer 2017 1 NEWSHabitat and Landscape Committee Being a “critical friend” to the Forestry • Nature given free reign to settle the final pattern of the matrix Commission throughout the Forest of wooded and un-wooded Design Plan process areas. In 2013 and 2015, Neil Sanderson expanded the report As Brian Tarnoff reports, when consultation process that produced to cover the remaining Inclosures, our Habitat and Landscape it. At the one closed consultation with Highland Water Studies and (HaL) committee of ecologists event, which I attended as Eastern Block Sequence essentially engages with the final stage an observer, an unstructured creating a viable blueprint for a of consultation on the Forestry discussion was held around maps Forest Design Plan based on these Commission’s Forest Design of the two remaining blocks of principles. Bolstered by the 2015 Plan (FDP), it will be the Inclosures. Forestry Commission report Jonathan Cox produced culmination of over a decade staff, foresters and keepers for us, A Future for New Forest of effort. The Plan provides a outnumbered consultees three to Plantations on Ancient Woodlands long-term vision as well as a one, with Commoners dominating (a consideration of tree species basis underpinning the 10-year the remainder, and with scant selection for habitat restoration, felling licence the FC requires representation from ecological biosecurity and climate-change to continue harvest operations groups such as the Wildlife Trust resilience), our response to the next in the Inclosures. and the British Deer Society. Plan was ready. Little wonder the detail plan In July 1999, the Government 2012: Aborted mid-term review. skewed away from the Mandate’s produced The Minister’s Mandate In 2012, it became apparent that conservation aspirations. for the New Forest 1999–2008, the promised five-year “mid-term” setting out the FC’s management review of the FDP had been kicked priorities for the Crown Lands with Recovering Lost into the long grass (no doubt “conservation of the natural and further obscured by seedling pine). cultural heritage as the principal Landscapes We demanded a moratorium on objective”. The Plan for the In 2006, we produced The New conifer replanting, pending the Inclosures included: Forest Design Plan: Recovering Lost next iteration of the FDP, to avoid Landscapes to address the Plan’s locking in conifers for another • A significant proportion of deficiencies. Our report proposed: generation. The FC continued to woodlands in the Inclosures have little regard to the Minister’s will be modified to restore • Natural processes to reclaim Mandate, as well as subsequent pasture woodlands, areas which have been altered policy initiatives favouring habitat heathlands, valley mires and by human interference. restoration, including: Ancient and Semi-Natural • Restoration of some Inclosures • The “Lawton” Report “Making native woodland. to the Open Forest, with Space For Nature”. • The present overall balance broadleaved crops providing a between broadleaves and reservoir from which species • The New Forest National Park’s conifers will be changed in colonise the surrounding area. Biodiversity Action Plan. favour of broadleaves. • Less fragmentation, naturally • The Plantations on Ancient • No broadleaved woodland will developing wildlife corridors. Woodland Sites (PAWS) policy. be regenerated with conifers. • A cohesive mosaic of With five years left to run on their The 2006 Forest Design Plan landscapes, with added value felling licences, the FC felt no legal paid lip-service to the Minister’s for habitat, aesthetics and obligation to change course. Their Mandate, but failed to deliver. visitors. restock plans showed conifers still This shortfall can be seen in the being actively planted on Ancient less than transparent and inclusive Woodland sites.

2 FOREST MATTERS 2015: The new Plan begins. In by a fully transparent consultation the Plan goes forward to its final a heartening move, in July 2015 available online. stage. I’m pleased to report that the FC actively sought our input what we’ve seen for this version, This version provided the finer and expertise. We were one of has taken our comments on board detail as well as the decision-tree a select group of conservation and has a demonstrably sound logic we’d requested after the organisations invited by the ecological basis. 2015 preview. The aspirations Forestry Commission to comment we’d applauded remained intact, There is a recognition that on their earliest draft of the next but the content at the detail within the context of the whole FDP. We were taken aback by the level did not seem to apply that of the Forest Estate, The New low level of detail in this first salvo, logic consistently. It was Previn, Forest delivery of habitat benefit with a map covered by barely Morecambe and Wise; they were is more important than its differentiated blobs of colour playing all the right notes, but not contribution to timber production. and whole Inclosures designated necessarily in the right order. Most importantly, the Forestry as a single management type. Commission has incorporated On the plus side, a shift towards While in our formal response we underlying principles, and an much more broadleaf planting welcomed the broad intent of the openness to constructive expert represented a huge sea-change plan, but strongly suggested that input and creative engagement for the foresters and a return the flawed detail level would likely going forward. to fulfilling the promise of the fail the inspectorate’s habitats Minister’s Mandate. A good start. regulation hurdles. The good Brian Ross Tarnoff is Chairman intentions had not been applied of the Habitat and Landscape 2016: Consultation launch. In in a way to produce the needed Committee. Particular thanks go March 2016, the FC launched functional habitat and landscape. to HaL committee members Neil the public consultation on the Sanderson and Richard Reeves, FDP with an event at the Balmer 2017: Final draft. Now, nearly a whose immeasurable input, Lawn including the full range of year later, we have shared a couple understanding and knowledge has Forest bodies, parish and district of meetings with ecologists from formed the bulk of our Recovering councillors, and conservation the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts to Lost Landscapes initiative. organisations. This was followed comment on this rethink before

taking responsibility for their The grounds boast many Minstead actions and understanding the wonderful educational features, Study Centre need to live more sustainably. including an Iron Age roundhouse, a miz maze labyrinth, willow Each day the children have a hot A handful of us who attended tunnels and domes, bees, breakfast and prepare their own the AGM at Minstead Village sheep, chickens and a hands-on sandwiches for a picnic lunch. In Hall chose to visit Minstead Study vegetable, learning garden. Centre in the afternoon. the evenings there is a cooked meal, the kitchen being run by two The Centre also provides a We found the Centre nestled in part-time cooks. number of courses for adults, a hollow in the village’s former including bread-making, vegetable Overnight accommodation is Primary School. There, we were gardening, fruit-pruning, in the Centre’s award-winning welcomed by the Centre’s Head, printing/art, willow-weaving and Eco-Dormitory built in the 7-acre Jane Pownall, who, together with drumming. a young Trustee, Andy Brennan, grounds, which has two bunk-bed showed us round. dormitories for children, en-suite For further information about facilities for teachers and a social the Centre, visit www.minstead. The old school building is where area with bean-bags, sofas and a hampshire.org.uk or contact indoor activities and all meals wood-burning stove for evening Jane Pownall at are held. The Centre can cater gatherings. The Dormitory’s [email protected]. for groups of up to 34 primary sustainable features include schoolchildren, together with their paper-pulp insulation, rainwater staff, on two-and-half-day visits. harvesting (to flush the loos), solar During their time at the Centre, panels, and energy-use SMART the children learn about the New displays. Forest, working co-operatively,

Spring/Summer 2017 3 NEWS Saving the New Forest’s historic churchyard monuments

Long-forgotten gravestones and importance, engineering and repair heirlooms. This means that it is monuments in burial grounds reports have been commissioned the family that has responsibility are set for a new lease of life, so that repairs can be undertaken. for maintaining the memorials, and New Forest residents have not the organisations that manage All the photographs, recorded been helping to identify those the burial sites. However, locating inscriptions and any other details most in need of conservation, family members responsible for will be added to an online portal. as Frank Green reports. maintaining gravestones that are This website will allow anyone hundreds of years old is virtually Some monuments, like those for undertaking family or social-history impossible. This project will help Conan Doyle at Minstead and research anywhere in the world ensure that these memorials, which Alice Liddell (Alice of Alice in to locate a family memorial and contain so much social and family Wonderland) at Lyndhurst, will contribute further information they history, are kept in good order for inevitably always be looked after. may have. This comprehensive future generations. Those relating to less well known database is being established in the personalities can easily decay into New Forest for the first time. Work The data collected will better obscurity, with the loss of the is taking place in partnership with connect the community to its information they contain. New Forest District Council and previous generations and will be staff in the Winchester Diocesan publicly available for residents or Office and with church members visitors to trace family members and Parochial Church Councils. The and their resting places, and local aim is to prevent more gravestones history groups to discover more slipping into a state of disrepair, about an area’s past and aspects with loss of the information they of social history, such as the snake- contain about families and local catcher Harry “Brusher” Mills. social history. Work in the churchyards has been really successful, not only in Gravestones and monuments in recording the monuments but also cemeteries are privately owned in enabling future management and are usually erected by family plans to be developed to conserve members, so legally they are family Seven churchyards have already been accurately mapped by University, with each gravestone and grave space marked and given a unique reference number. The work is being funded as a heritage and archaeology project within the “Our Past, Our Future” landscape scheme. Volunteers and local community groups have been recording the gravestones and assessing their condition. In some cases, where monuments have been listed as of national Volunteers at churchyard

4 FOREST MATTERS important wildlife as well as the The process records the surface monuments they contain. colour and texture, which allows details otherwise not obvious An aspect of the work is that through normal visual inspection. the gravestones themselves are The specialist RTI work has been covered with a wealth of mosses undertaken by Archaeovision and and lichens. This can make reading has involved some monuments inscriptions difficult and sometimes in churchyards at , seemingly impossible – and the Burley and Minstead. Work will removal of mosses and lichens is Illustrated talks shortly take place at Lyndhurst actively discouraged. Churchyard. about the Friends The results where this work has of the New Forest taken place are quite spectacular, As part of our campaign to spread allowing virtually illegible the word about the Friends and to inscriptions to be easily read increase our membership, with no damage to the stone or Peter Roberts and John Ward have its lichens and mosses, as can prepared a great presentation be seen from the example from about our work and a small team Copythorne Churchyard. More of speakers already has 24 talks information is available on the either completed or planned. Archaeovision and New Forest If you belong to a group that National Park websites. would like an illustrated talk, please contact Sheila Ward at [email protected] or phone her on 01590 671205. Modern technology again comes to the aid of archaeologists and historians. Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) is a photographic method involving computer analysis that captures the Frank Green is the New Forest surface details of an object from a National Park Authority’s range of directions. archaeologist.

Before and after RTI treatment

Spring/Summer 2017 5 NEWS

Higher Level Stewardship AGM report

On 5 April the New Forest • remove invasive Rhododendron While this work continues, we Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) to prevent further spread and were unfortunately prevented Scheme held its Annual General to prevent shading of native from pursuing work to restore Meeting in the Verderers’ Hall. plant communities; the threatened habitats around As Nick Wardlaw reports, the , as • prevent root damage to five this was an opportunity to our application for planning Scheduled Ancient Monuments gather together all interested permission was refused in autumn by removing the scrub. parties, including the Friends 2016. This was disappointing of the New Forest, to review Once all constraints are evaluated after many years of work on a and reflect upon the hard work and mitigated for – such as voluntary Environmental Impact achieved by the team helping seasonal working to accommodate Assessment, years of consultation to deliver this 10-year initiative for ground-nesting birds and bat and development of the plans to restore internationally surveys to assess for roosting which incorporated a significant important New Forest habitats. potential – as well as consultation monitoring commitment. However, with local interested parties and there are many more miles of The HLS agreement with Natural statutory consultees, this terrestrial artificial drainage that are also is held by the Verderers work programme can be reflected having the continued negative of the New Forest. The scheme is on with pride. impact on the surrounding habitats managed by them in partnership for us to focus on restoring. with the Forestry Commission Further to all this practical and the New Forest National Park restoration on the heathland, lawn Further work to help prevent the Authority (NFNPA). and mire habitats, we continue to unnatural erosion that occurs as a reverse the effects of the artificial result of past drainage has been At the AGM, I was invited to drainage that has occurred over completed at: present a reflection on the the past 150 years within the work we had achieved in 2016. • Suburbs Wood Forest’s mire and stream channels. Summarising a work programme • Longbeech Mire that consists of so many operations We were successful in being to improve the Open Forest granted planning permission from • Broomy Bottom Mires the NFNPA for work to address the habitats can be a sizeable task in • Linford Brook Mire itself. I was able to reflect upon the drainage that is having a negative work on the Open Forest to: impact on the floodplain habitats • Brick Kiln Mire at Parkhill Lawn and Wootton • remove the pine and scrub • Horseshoe Earth Riverine Woodland. This enabled us spreading out onto the rich to begin restoration work at these • Three Beech Bottom East and varied heathlands (such degraded sites last year, which will as the work at Longdown, • Bottom be completed within 2017. The Dibden, Fawley, Norley Mire, work will aim to re-divert the water • Cowleys Heath. Ipley and Markway; into the relic meanders which will I was able to reflect on 2016 as • ensure the New Forest lawns re-connect the streams with the a year in which we have expanded are kept open to grazing floodplain more frequently during our monitoring programme, (such as the sites at New Park, times of high flow, benefiting the including the recruitment of Busketts Lawn, Boxwood species that depend on a naturally a devoted monitoring officer. Green and Beechwood Road); functioning system.

6 FOREST MATTERS Akercombe Bottom

Environmental monitoring is anywhere else in England. This Wildlife Trust has removed notoriously difficult, as it can particular species relies on a high thousands more non-native plants often be limited by being only water table, which is threatened by from the Forest. a “snapshot” in time. However, past drainage activities within the This year promises to be just we have committed to develop Forest and is just one reminder of as busy for the HLS Team, monitoring the work we why the wetland restoration is so with work continuing for all undertake, in order to inform important for nature conservation. these programmes as well as current and future Reflecting on work completed an expansion of further verge- work programmes. within 2016 gives me great pride protection schemes and an effort We are delivering this programme for all the work the team has to remove the ridges and furrows with help from volunteers been able to accomplish. This on areas of past inclosure that have and specialists looking into a is even before the other project been opened to grazing. I look range of affected areas such as work is factored in. The NFNPA’s forward to reflecting on another geomorphology and individual heritage team have uncovered successful set of projects protecting species. For example, last year and protected hundreds more the New Forest’s unique habitats we commissioned a survey of the sites, the NFNPA education team this time next year! Black Bog Ant, one of the rarest have welcomed thousands more Nick Wardlaw is HLS Contract ants in Britain, of which the New children on school trips and Manager for South England Forest has more recorded sites than Hampshire and Isle of Wight Forestry Commission.

Spring/Summer 2017 7 NEWS A Verderer’s valedictory

The Verderers are an iconic This ratchet effect can be An interpretation board. A walking part of the Forest’s tradition. illustrated by the following two trail morphs into a cycle track, with Dominic May – Official Verderer real examples. marker posts. We have now lost for the past six years – provides that area of unspoilt heath. First, imagine a small forester’s a farewell perspective on the cottage, all activity contained The Verderers believe that our Verderers’ role in protecting within its curtilage. Originally the working New Forest should the Forest in the face of the commoner would use a horse, be available for quiet informal “ratchet” effect of multiple or be on foot. Over time a car recreation. So we must control the small inroads. becomes affordable, probably creeping damage from recreational It has been my honour to serve a Land Rover to cross the forest overuse and the subsequent Her Majesty as Official Verderer for to the gate. Eventually the older pressure for “facilities”. Any the past six years, and to serve the generation dies out and the such facilities should be provided New Forest which has given me so property is sold. The new owner where they do not conflict with much pleasure in my life. gets a licence from the Forestry the unique qualities of the Forest. Commission to secure the right to Just because the Forest looks The role of the Verderers is to the historic access, digs up the turf large and empty compared to the protect the New Forest and its and lays gravel on the open forest. urban environment, that does not unique system of pastoral farming, mean it should be ruined by the which we call Commoning. latest fad. In fact it is full: full of It helps to think of the New Forest The role of the grazing animals, rare insects, scarce as an 80,000 acre farmer’s field, Verderers is to birds. Full of innumerable plants, shared by over 700 farmers: their landscape trees. Full of beauty, grazing animals have created protect the New tranquillity. the landscape that we all love so Forest and its much. We make sure we keep With the continuing demands the land in good condition and, unique system of on the open forest, both from if we can, we try to expand the pastoral farming, recreation and utilities, my view is grazing, not allow it to get smaller. which we call that the Verderers should always This is a working forest, with try to increase the size of the commercial tree plantations and Commoning. Forest, and I am pleased to say stock management rubbing along that during my six years we have side by side. Then he starts to park his car on certainly expanded the grazing. the open forest. And so does his The New Forest suffers over time I do not want to go through all wife. His children come of age and by a ratchet effect. No one activity the detail of what we have park their own cars on the Forest. will by itself ruin it, and each achieved as a Court over the last In a very short period we have disturbance taken in isolation six years; suffice to say that we gone from idyllic forest landscape may on the face of it appear have done a huge amount of work. to suburbia. negligible. But add up every We have fought the battles which human intervention – such as Second, take a pristine stretch of needed to be fought. Commoning artificial drainage, car parks, gravel undulating heathland, wild and is thriving, and the New Forest is tracks, utilities, illegal cycling – and lonely, ponies and cattle quietly in good health. incrementally over time we see a grazing, with unspoilt views to the Dominic May served as Official significant loss of grazing, loss of Isle of Wight. A car park is built. Ice Verderer from 2011 to 2017. landscape amenity, loss of habitat. cream sales are permitted. Picnic tables. Litter bins. A lavatory block.

8 FOREST MATTERS OPINION The Future of the New Forest National Park Keith Howe reflects on what is What Future for the New Forest? with other organisations. happening in the New Forest and threw into sharp relief the conflicts Potentially, income generation the value of this scarce resource. of interest arising from people’s could be extended. different wants and objectives. What is the New Forest for? There Car park charging is a candidate, Abutted by Bournemouth, Poole, are two answers. and applying a supplement Southampton and Portsmouth, and per head for every participant One comes from the definition of at the end of M3/M27 motorway in organised sport events. statutory purposes for national links to London and beyond, the Revenues should be allocated to parks in England and Wales. These New Forest provides cheap and an environment fund providing are “to conserve and enhance easy access to an urban population for the repair, protection and the natural beauty, wildlife for whom its “special qualities” enhancement of the New Forest’s and cultural heritage”, and “to take second place to its availability rare and ecologically promote opportunities for the as an extensive sport and vulnerable habitats. understanding and enjoyment of recreational area at low personal the special qualities of national financial cost. But crucially, the first purpose is parks by the public”. using price to regulate demand When a public resource is available from the numbers of people The New Forest’s special qualities too cheaply, in some respects wanting to use the New Forest are reflected in its environmental effectively at zero private cost, at cost to its precious natural designations as Sites of Special the result is “the tragedy of the environment, albeit unintentional. Scientific Interest, Special Areas commons”, its overexploitation of Conservation, and Special with detrimental, even No scarce resource is free to use, Protected Areas. In common catastrophic, effects. and the New Forest is with all national parks, there is no exception. On current trends, the New also a duty to seek to foster the Forest is being transformed into Keith Howe is a New Forest economic and social well-being of a playground for urban dwellers. Association Council Member, local communities within it. Said to be the most extensive area Senior Research Fellow in the The other answer is defined by of lowland heathland in Europe, Land, Environment, Economics and what the New Forest’s residents its unique and irreplaceable Policy Institute, Exeter University, and visitors actually do there. qualities are being steadily eroded and Honorary Research Fellow, Commoning, forestry, hospitality, by the sheer weight of numbers Royal Veterinary College, London other employment and living in of people using the New Forest in University. This Opinion piece retirement account for incompatible ways. represents the personal views local people. of the author. There is scope for such a fate Walking, cycling, horse riding, to be avoided. Bruce Rothnie, exercising dogs, camping and Deputy Surveyor of the Forestry leisure visits by car and coach are Commission, explained that the recreational activities for everyone. net annual financial cost to public The New Forest marathon and funds of managing the cycle Wiggle are prominent New Forest is currently £80 examples of organised sport. per hectare. Education also features, for people The Forestry Commission seeks of all ages. to reduce its call on taxpayers by The Friends of the New Forest’s earning income from its business 150th anniversary launch event activities and by collaborating

Spring/Summer 2017 9 THE NEW FOREST’S COASTAL CHALLENGES

Parts of the New Forest’s coast lie below sea level Evidence of change and need to be protected. The coast’s natural dynamism combined with unceasing demands Some two hundred years ago, our coastal landscape for economic growth are creating competing would have looked very different. The Forest’s shores priorities in the search for the best way forward. were home to heavy industries, with docks and Clive Chatters considers some of the many wharfage and shipbuilding in the numerous tidal challenges facing the Forest’s coastline. rivers, iron smelting at Sowley and the salt industry dominating the marsh country between Hurst and While Snowdonia and the Lake District may boast . As coal became king, so those industries of their highest peaks, the New Forest enjoys the moved away to be replaced by others: marinas and unusual distinction of containing the lowest leisure craft, together with the paraphernalia of low-points of any of Britain’s National Parks. This tourism, sit in among some of the most desirable honour goes to Hampshire County Council’s nature residential addresses in England. reserve between and Lymington, where historic seawalls safeguard marshes lying well below the tidal limit. Administrative boundaries are often puzzling and the New Forest’s coast is no exception. The National Park includes most of the Western Solent between Hurst Spit and but then dips in and out of . Unusually for a National Park, the Southampton Water boundary has a “hole” in it where the redundant power station stands. After which, the limits of the Park almost – but not Oxey Marshes quite – make it to the shore at Dibden; the grazing marshes of West Cliff are “inside” but the grasslands of Dibden Bay are “outside”. It’s a good job our When you pass Calshot Castle and head north, Association cares for the whole Forest and declines to it does seem like another world. Modern heavy tie itself in knots with red tape. industries have grown up along Southampton Water, with the National Park dipping down to the coast between a power station, a petrochemical works and incinerators. Yet even here the ancient Forest is fully expressed: Commoners’ ponies turned out on Green graze the foreshore of Fawley, wandering the saltmarshes as their forebears have done for centuries. The Forest’s coast has always changed and will continue to challenge us in our need to address uncomfortable realities. Saltmarsh coasts like those of the Forest are a manifestation of sea levels and Calshot Spit tidal regimes that shift over time. Sea levels are rising; one can quibble about what proportion of this is due The Western Solent is the first substantial piece of to man-made global warming, but unquestionably undeveloped coastal frontage you encounter as you the sea is rising in relation to the land. If left to travel along the highly urbanised coast of Southern themselves, our local marshes and their tidal waters England. The seaside towns of Kent and Sussex would migrate inland, taking over freshwater merge into the suburbs of Solent City before they wetlands and eroding back the rising ground. yield to the saltmarshes and wooded shore of the National Park. Where it is being monitored, the face of the marsh is moving landward at about 10 metres a year.

10 FOREST MATTERS Where unconstrained, such as just outside the Park boundary on the , the whole coastline rolls back at a similar rate. Unfortunately, options to favour natural realignment are scarce in the Park, major investment in moorings and marinas with prestigious homes and old rubbish dumps lying directly in the path of the tide. Competing priorities The demands from those who own and enjoy such places are, understandably, to defend those assets. With enough money and ingenuity, it is possible to defend any stretch of coast but the cost is not always in cash. The treadmill of defending against ever higher tides inevitably introduces hard engineering into the softly beautiful shore. Do we really want the gateway to the National Park from the Isle of Wight Pylewell Shore ferry to be defined by rock revetments stretching from Normandy to Pitts Deep? Our National Park status demands a more creative response, as does For decades, remote stretches of coast have been the international community’s recognition of the managed as sanctuaries, as nature reserves, because importance of our coastal wildlife. the habitats and species they support are intensely vulnerable to disturbance or will wear out under a surge in footfall. The debate on coastal access has been running for years and must soon reach a conclusion, we hope with the best interests of the Forest to the fore.

The Forest’s coast has always changed and will continue to challenge us in our need to address uncomfortable realities.

The natural dynamism of the coast, together with the unceasing demands for economic growth, mean that there is no status quo to maintain, nor is inaction Ashlett Green without its consequences. Those who love the Forest’s coast and what makes it special are in for The Forest’s coast is under constant pressure, pressure challenging times. for sea defences, pressure for development, be that Clive Chatters is a Life Member and a long-standing a single splendid dwelling, the re-use of a derelict Council Member of the Association. This October power-plant or an aspirational deep-water port. There Bloomsbury Publishing will publish his natural history are some who wish to open up public access to the of British saltmarshes, entitled Saltmarshes, which whole coastline as a recreational resource. includes a chapter on the Forest’s coast.

Spring/Summer 2017 11 WHERE DO COMMON RIGHTS COME FROM?

The New Forest is well known for its ponies and (“right-and-proper”). Local communities control the rights that Commoners have to graze their such rights by exerting moral pressure, and the word stock over its common land. Graham Bathe looks “moral” derives from the Latin mores, meaning back into pre-legislative times and unravels fact customs. Common rights (like rights-of-way and from fiction in the case of commons, greens village greens) are things that have been practised for and rights-of-way. so long that they have become defendable within the courts, even in the absence of legislation. They have You still hear the occasional claim that, when been undertaken since time immemorial. William the Conqueror declared the New Forest as a royal hunting forest, he granted his poor subjects permission to graze their animals. It’s not true. How long is Somebody who grants permission can later choose “time immemorial”? to take it away. Common rights are precisely what So, here is another good pub-quiz question. When they sound – rights. They are not generally something did “time immemorial” begin? I am afraid that this granted, and they don’t involve permission. is no extravagant prize here, because there is a real answer, and the money is no longer safe. In the first The law of Statute of Westminster (1275), it was decided that custom-and-practice nobody then alive could remember before the time King Richard I (“the Lionheart”), who was crowned So where do they come from? Well, here is a good in 1189. This was formally set as the date of time pub-quiz offer, on a related subject. I will give you immemorial. However, for obvious reasons, it became a bottle of wine of your choice if you can tell me, increasingly difficult to prove that practices had to within 50 years, the date of the legislation which occurred continuously since that time. Hence in 1832 grants people the right to be on a right-of-way? My time immemorial was taken to mean “Time whereof money is safe, because there is no such legislation. the memory of man runneth not”. Rights-of-way, like commons, are much older than legislation. In fact, they are older than any national parliament or monarchy as we know it. Common rights and rights-of-way, together with village greens, represent three principal aspects of English law which have their origin in custom-and-practice. Even today there is no legislation saying people have the right to be on a beach. However, if you were approached by somebody who asked your family to move on from, say, Bournemouth beach, because there is no Act permitting it, you are hardly likely to comply. You might say something like “I have been coming here all my life, and my parents before me, and their parents before them; and NO, we are not budging!”. You would feel that you have a Cow chewing the cud on Cockley Plain “right”, built up from what you had done in the past, irrespective of whether there is an Act of Parliament. More recently, 20 years has become adopted as And you would be correct. adequate to prove a prescriptive right. Hence, in So can you have laws that are not based on general, if you can prove that enough people have legislation? Indeed you can. In fact, custom-and- walked a route, or used an area as a green for sports practice were not the basis of law, they were the and pastimes, for 20 years, you have a chance of law. There are clues in the very terms used. Even getting them formally recognised (and protected) as the word “right” implies something that is correct, a right-of-way or a village green. Common rights are an entitlement which others cannot take away a bit more complex, but their origin is the same. To gain this recognition, you have to prove that such

12 FOREST MATTERS practices have been undertaken “as of right”. This produced A Treatise of the Forest, the first book on means without force, without secrecy, and without Forest Law. Drawing heavily on the Carta de Foresta permission. And that takes us back to the beginning, and other early proclamations, he confirmed the because if you are there by permission, you have rights of the Commoners. He stated: “Where the no rights. King doth afforest his own woods or lands, he must not interfere with the rights of any man who has Graziers of the New Forest common therein”. The common rights of the New Forest are older than maintain a tradition – the Norman Conquest, and may even go back to and a landscape – over a prehistoric times. thousand years old.

All human communities have used a mixture of shared and exclusive rights. Increasingly in western society there has been a focus on exclusive use, perpetuated by waves of enclosure, especially the major changes of the 18th and 19th centuries. This enables people to say (and feel) “Get off my land”. But it was not always thus, and there were times when more people shared the land and worked communally. So, if William the Conqueror did not grant permission for Commoners to use the royal forest, where do the rights come from? Well, in truth they were already Pigs foraging at there. The royal forest, with its complex judiciary and rituals, was applied as an additional layer of Graham Bathe, a resident of Woodgreen, management and law. The forest at the time, with is Chairman of the Open Spaces Society, an a mix of heath, mire, trees and scrub, and large organisation which, like the NFA, has recently numbers of Commoners, may have looked quite celebrated its 150th anniversary. His three books – similar to how it looks today. on Common Land, Village Greens and Paths – can be obtained from www.oss.org.uk. No royal interference Even within the royal forests, where it might be anticipated that the King’s prerogative need have little regard to Commoners, their rights were given protection in law. This year is the 800th anniversary of the “Carta de Foresta” (Charter of the Forest) of 1217, which makes explicit reference to the Commoners. The Charter had been drawn up alongside the Magna Carta, a cornerstone of English (and American) law. Article 1 of the Carta de Foresta states: “Those woods which belong to the King, which have been afforested, shall remain forest, saving the common usage of pasture and other matters, to those who were accustomed to the same”. In 1592 the barrister John Manwood, who attended some of the last itinerant courts or Forest Eyres held in England,

Spring/Summer 2017 13 THE NEW FOREST NON-NATIVE PLANTS PROJECT

Non-native species that have “escaped” from garden plantings are growing abundantly A growing problem and causing problems in the Forest. Catherine We have also increased the number of species on our Chatters recounts how a New Forest project is “hit list”; at the last count we had tackled, or given helping to implement, at a local level, the Great advice on, over twenty species including parrot’s Britain Invasive Non-Native Species Strategy. feather, creeping water primrose, montbretia and golden club. Many of these species are recognised Some Members of Friends of the New Forest may by the Government as being particularly invasive and recall reading about the New Forest Non-Native Plants have been included on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife Project (NFNNPP) in an article that I wrote for the and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). This makes Winter 2009/Spring 2010 edition of the newsletter a it unlawful to plant them in the wild or “otherwise few months after the Project started in May 2009. cause them to grow in the wild”. The NFNNPP is a partnership project, hosted by Although it is the landowner’s responsibility to stop Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, which them spreading into the wild, the NFNNPP recognises aims to: that landowners need help and practical advice to • identify where invasive non-native plants are a achieve effective control at the catchment scale; it is problem in the New Forest area, particularly along vital to ensure all relevant landowners are “on board” watercourses and in wetland habitats; and I have been very encouraged by the positive response of landowners and land managers. • offer advice and practical support to help landowners and land managers meet their The NFNNPP helps to implement, at the local responsibilities to stop the spread of invasive non- level, the Great Britain Invasive Non-Native Species native plants; Strategy, published in August 2015 by Defra and the Scottish and Welsh governments. The successful • undertake research into ways of controlling implementation of this Strategy depends on effective invasive non-native plants. partnership working and I am delighted by the links Initially funded for three years, the Project aimed to our Project has forged with a wide range of people tackle five non-native species: Himalayan balsam, and organisations including landowners, giant hogweed, Japanese knotweed, American skunk land managers, contractors, local naturalists cabbage and New Zealand pygmyweed. These plants and volunteers. were all introduced to the UK as garden plants but they have “jumped the garden fence” and spread The role of volunteers into the countryside where they form dense colonies, Volunteers have played a crucial role in the success of out-competing our native wildlife and causing the Project, particularly with the control of Himalayan problems for land managers and people using the balsam. This species is highly invasive due to its countryside. Furthermore, giant hogweed is even a explosive seed pods which shoot out the seeds up to threat to human health, as its toxic sap can cause seven metres. As the balsam thrives in damp areas nasty “burning” blisters and skin discolouration. close to streams and rivers, the seeds fall into the Since the launch of the NFNNPP eight years ago, the nearby watercourse, get carried downstream and project has expanded to employ a second Project germinate to form dense colonies in suitable habitat. Officer: Jo Gore now focuses on the Although it can grow to four or five metres high, and its tributaries while I continue to concentrate on Himalayan balsam has relatively short roots, is easy to the Crown Lands, the River and the pull up and is easily recognisable, making it ideal for Avon Water. volunteer work parties.

14 FOREST MATTERS Balsam-pulling is very satisfying and can even Park, including the control of Japanese knotweed at become quite addictive! Our volunteers include a seventeen sites along the Cadnam River, the control wide range of people, including corporate groups of giant hogweed along the Avon Water and the from local businesses, Scouts and Guides, students, control of American skunk cabbage along the Fleet home-educated children and retired people. Jo and Water near Minstead. I are extremely grateful to all the people who have helped us; last summer 248 people gave over 2,250 Research into control and hours pulling up Himalayan balsam on work parties organised by the NFNNPP. impacts The hard work and enthusiasm by volunteer balsam- The NFNNPP has undertaken research into methods pullers really is making a difference. At some sites to control invasive non-native plants. For example, that we’ve worked on for a few years we are now between 2011 and 2013 we trialled hot foam and having to search for balsam plants and we now aquatic dyes to control the notorious New Zealand have to choose our sites carefully for large corporate pygmyweed (also known as Australian swamp groups or youth groups to make sure that there will stonecrop), which has invaded wetland habitats be enough balsam to keep everyone busy all day! throughout the New Forest, and during Autumn 2016 we liaised with the Forestry Commission to test “tree poppers” as a way of controlling cotoneaster. We have also commissioned research into the impacts caused by invasive non-native plants. American skunk cabbage is a highly invasive plant which has colonised wet woodlands in the New Forest area and elsewhere in the UK. However, at the start of the Project there was relatively little awareness about its impact, so the NFNNPP commissioned Neil Sanderson to study the impact on native vegetation at two sites in the New Forest. Neil’s report demonstrated that American skunk cabbage can have a significant impact on the diversity of native vegetation and this research has already been used as useful evidence.

The author pulling Himalayan balsam Raising awareness Awareness-raising is an important element of the We also rely heavily on volunteers for surveys and NFNNPP; this has included displays at events such monitoring. For example, volunteers helped to as the Wood Fair and the New Forest Show, talks record the distribution of non-native cotoneaster to parish councils and gardening clubs, articles in species which have invaded former war-time airfields newspapers and interviews on local radio. We have at Stoney Cross, Beaulieu Heath and East also hosted training events for a range of people and they have monitored the success of herbicide including anglers and fishermen, professional treatment undertaken to control the cotoneaster. horticulturists and keen amateur gardeners. The NFNNPP is very grateful to the Verderers for To find out more about the Project or to request a funding through the New Forest Higher Level list of Himalayan balsam pulls this summer, please Stewardship (HLS) scheme and to the Forestry contact Catherine Chatters, New Forest Non-Native Commission for funding relating to work on the Plants Officer [email protected] Crown Lands. Friends of the New Forest are providing or call 07770 923315. sponsorship funding for three years towards the Restoring Lost Landscapes element of the “Our Past, Catherine Chatters is New Forest Non-Native Plants Our Future” Landscape Partnership Scheme for our Officer at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. work elsewhere within the New Forest National

Spring/Summer 2017 15 WHAT MAKES THE NEW FOREST IMPORTANT FOR TREES?

Since its designation by William the Conqueror, Around the same time, the New Forest Act of 1698 the New Forest and its trees have served as forebade the pollarding of any more oak trees, as this an important source of material, habitat and traditional practice spoilt the shape of the tree for recreation. Paul Hibberd explains how the trees’ shipbuilding (though, in practice, pollarding appears importance has changed over the centuries. to have continued until the 1851 Deer Removal Act). There are still some ancient pollards standing in the So what does make the New Forest important for Forest today, reminders of a time when these trees trees? The answer depends on who you ask! For were seen as most important for the fuelwood, centuries, the trees of the New Forest have been fencing material and winter browse they supplied. important to many people for many different reasons. Over the years, the woodlands have provided food and fun for the royal court, timber for warships, The coming of the conifers food and shelter for domestic animals, a place for The 19th century switch to iron rather than oak for recreation and a haven for nature conservation. These shipbuilding had a dramatic effect on demand for changes in the importance placed on the trees and timber. From the 1850s there was no need for the woodlands have shaped the Forest we see today. slow-growing oak: fast-growing conifers provided a far higher yield. The Scots pine and Douglas firs were A variety of uses – suddenly the important trees. The areas of land enclosed for tree growing and abuses continued to increase, to the detriment of the When William the Conqueror designated the area as Commoners, who grazed their stock on the open his new forest – Nova Foresta – in forest. While not the main source 1079, the trees and surrounding of food for their animals, the trees areas were important as a refuge were important for the shelter for the deer and as a place for and browsing opportunities they hunting. As time went on, the provided. Forest became less important The ongoing enclosure of the as a royal hunting ground, and open woodland areas in the Forest more important for the valuable caused such alarm that a new timber it contained. In particular, piece of legislation, the 1877 New the durable oak trees were in Forest Act, was passed. This act demand for boat building. The sought to preserve the “Ancient selective removal of oak increased and Ornamental” woodlands of in Elizabethan times, leading to a the Forest. The name of the Act large decrease in the number of suggests that, even in Victorian oaks relative to the numbers of times, the trees were also seen less desirable beech trees. as important for their aesthetic Oaks are of course rather slow qualities and the recreation growing, and it became clear opportunities they offered the that the Forest was not able to Ancient pollarded holly visitor. keep up with demand without These days, the trees of the New intervention. From the 16th Forest are even more important for recreation and century onwards there were efforts to grow oak tourism. The woodlands provide an attractive place to trees for timber, by protecting the young trees from relax, explore and enjoy. They provide a picturesque grazing. The first recorded enclosure of land for tree backdrop for the daily lives of locals and the holidays growing in the Forest was of 400 acres in 1682. of many visitors. From being the playground of a king, the Forest is now the playground of the many. This brings its own set of pressures and challenges.

16 FOREST MATTERS Today’s continued species. The New Forest is one of the most important areas in Europe for lichens, beetles, bats and fungi importance dependent on very old trees. One 400-year-old tree The trees in the inclosures remain important for can support a range of species that you just would their timber. The trees of the open forest remain not find in a whole woodland full of 100-year-old important for the shelter and browse they offer the trees. commoners’ animals. But many people these days would say the trees of the New Forest are most important for nature conservation. The New Forest is one of the very best places in Europe for ancient trees. The area is thought to have the highest concentration of ancient trees in Western Europe. The Forest is especially important for the ancient oak, beech and holly trees. The hollies are not as obvious as some of the larger trees, but look closely and you’ll discover some impressive old trees. Many have been sculpted by years of pollarding, to provide winter food for deer and Commoners’ animals. The ancient beech trees can be particularly impressive, though sadly many large trees have fallen in recent decades. A changing climate is unlikely to be helping them. Ancient beech More encouragingly, there have been an increasing number of large oaks since Victorian times, with Of course, the importance of New Forest trees for far more trees now over 5 metres in circumference nature conservation is not based on individual trees. than there were a century ago. There are not many It is the impressive size of the woodland habitat really big oaks in the Forest at the moment, with just and the continuity of that habitat over the centuries a handful over 7 metres. It is rather heartening to that makes it so special. The New Forest contains think that over the coming centuries there may be the largest areas of primary woodland in lowland many more really large veteran trees here. Western Europe. This unbroken link back to the original wildwood provides an incredibly valuable habitat. The large amount of standing and fallen deadwood is especially important for invertebrates and fungi. It is difficult to sum up the importance of the trees and woodlands of the New Forest in such a short article. What is clear, however, is that these trees and woodlands are immensely rich in both natural and cultural history. There’s a wealth of further information on the subject to explore.

This article represents the personal views of the author and has been prepared with assistance from Balmer Lawn Oak Neil Sanderson and the New Forest Centre reference library, which is gratefully acknowledged. A Life Member – and one-time committee member – of As well as being fascinating forms of life in their the NFA, Paul Hibberd was a New Forest Ranger own right, the old trees of the ancient woodlands for the Forestry Commission from 1996 to 2007. He are vital to many other forms of life. They provide currently works as Interpretation Officer for Forestry both home and food for many rare and unusual Commission Scotland, based in Inverness.

Spring/Summer 2017 17 A CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORY SAVING WOODGREEN COMMUNITY SHOP AND POST OFFICE

Woodgreen, a village of some 200 homes and Without that broad support, the project is unlikely to 500 residents located in the northwestern have left the runway. corner of the New Forest, just off the main Funds were sought from a variety of sources and A338 that runs from to , local fundraising events arranged to raise the has always relied on its local shop. When it was required matching funds. At the same time, the threatened with closure in 2006, local residents WCSA explored a number of possible sites and a rallied round to save it. Ron Trevaskis tells the final decision was taken to build on Parish Council story of their efforts then and of their ongoing (PC) land near the Village Hall, and leased from the efforts to sustain it in an incredibly competitive PC. Association members visited other community retail world. shops to seek out good and not so good practices and gather background information required for the project brief. A comprehensive Business Plan was written supporting the grant applications and justifying the venture as a going concern. The initial build/fit-out estimate was £300,000. Grants were sought from a number of organisations, including LEADER funding, the New Forest Sustainable Community Fund, Hampshire County Council, the Development The new Woodgreen Community Shop Agency (SEEDA) and the Big Lottery Local Food Grant. Matching funding of some £95,000 had A small privately-owned village shop and post office, also to be raised by the WCSA, which was achieved attached to a picturesque thatched cottage, had through a wide range of local events. served the local community for many decades. In 2006, the owners decided for family reasons to move away and the likelihood was that the shop, attached as it was to their home, would close for The very act of coming good when the cottage was sold. together as a village community, However, rather than leave the village without a all determined to see the shop shop, the owners generously agreed to delay their departure and to lease the shop to the community and post office thrive and in the form of the Woodgreen Community Shop survive, is at the heart of the Association (WCSA) for a 5-year period, allowing time for an alternative solution to be sought. shop’s growing success. Fund-raising initiatives The WCSA was launched in December 2006, after These included “Open Gardens”, organised by the 150 local people met to discuss and vote on the local Hale and Woodgreen Horticultural Association, proposal to turn the shop into a community-owned a fun day “Frolics in the Field” with live music, a venture. Shares, for a one-off payment of £10, one hog roast and BBQ, a Variety Show in the Village per person, were sold to around 450 people, giving Hall (Woodgreen’s Got Talent?), and Duck Racing on voting rights (but not a share in any profits), and the nearby River Avon. (No animals were harmed!). fundraising was commenced. There was invaluable These events not only raised the necessary funds to support from the Parish, District and County Councils complete the project but also greatly enhanced the and the New Forest National Park Authority, not community spirit that is still very evident, indeed least because nearby villages – Hale, and essential, in the day-to-day operation of the shop. Godshill – had by then lost their shop/post offices.

18 FOREST MATTERS Community collaboration Meeting local needs With fundraising more or less complete, permissions The shop opens at 6.30am every day, to enable granted and architect’s plans drawn up (following a newspapers to be sorted (they are collected, not design competition/tender), the new shop/post office delivered), to start the day’s baking and to catch the was built for a cost of £335,000, opening in May early morning trade. More recently the opening hours 2011. In the face of inevitable last-minute increases have been extended in the evenings from 5.30pm and changes in plans, much of the final fitting-out to 7.00pm to satisfy the needs of those customers relied heavily on free local labour and skills, donated returning home from work. Post Office hours are second-hand equipment and IKEA! All credit to 9.00am to 1.00pm, and 2.00pm to 5.30pm, Monday everyone involved with the outcome: an attractive to Friday, and 9.00am to 1.00pm on Saturday. Post shop, much larger than before, with space for Office staff are “multi-skilled” and back up the retail extensive shelving, wide aisles, its own car parking, operation as and when they can. solar panels to “feed in” funds towards the power needs of the extensive array of freezers and chillers, and indoor and outdoor seating areas. Last-minute help was sought and received from the Village Trust and a local Housing Association to fund specific needs. If you don’t ask…. While the bulk of the work inevitably fell on the shoulders of a number of local stalwarts, the very act of coming together as a village community, all determined to see the shop and post office thrive and

The shop’s staff and volunteers

Woodgreen Community Shop has always had a strong local ethos. Some 35 per cent of its produce is grown, raised or made within 30 miles of the store, with 46 local suppliers – a “unique selling proposition” that brings many customers to the shop. The shop’s array of locally-sourced produce All of the paid staff and volunteers are local villagers and have a strong sense of community spirit. Many survive, is at the heart of the shop’s growing success. are retired and have time on their hands. They value Footfall and turnover have greatly increased and, with the friendship and camaraderie of the shop, which is about 3,000 product lines and services, sales have at the heart of the village and its meeting point. grown from £228,000 in 2011 to £484,500 in the latest financial year to April 2017. The saving and resurrection of the Woodgreen Community Shop is both a fascinating case history With local banks closing by the day, the post office is and a wealth of ideas, lessons and thought-provoking providing the local community with an ever-growing issues for anyone interested in the development and banking service. As with many rural shops, income sustainability of rural enterprises, not least our village from the post office is insufficient to cover costs, shops. This is clearly a success story and a potential which are mainly staff. The annual “loss”, at around model for others. Such success, however, is not easily £4,000, is in any case small, and the overall shop/post won or sustained without the leadership, drive and office venture is just in profit. Not only is the post energy of the “few”, and the wholehearted support office an essential service to the community, it brings of the “many”. valuable footfall into the shop. The role of the grant-aiding bodies and public The financial challenges to sustain such a venture authorities is also vital and they should be fully should not, however, be underestimated. New “Living conscious of the need to give the maximum positive Wage” regulations, the possibility of rises in business support they can to those communities that are rates, increasing online shopping and intense willing to take on such a challenge. competition from supermarkets and discounters, all pose significant challenges to the shop’s very existence. However, the combination of a well-run business, serving the needs of its customers and Ron Trevaskis is Chair of the Woodgreen Community backed by the community, has so far been successful. Shop Association (WCSA).

Spring/Summer 2017 19 Book review

New Forest Walks The book starts with a short section on why the Forest in general is good for wildlife, touching on A seasonal wildlife guide: the grazing, management, geology and conservation interests, before explaining that “Three habitat types Andrew Walmsley are, however, worthy of particular mention: the ancient pasture woodlands, or ancient, unenclosed woodlands, as they are often known; the heathlands; and the valley mires. Why? Because nowhere else in lowland Western Europe do they occur so extensively.” The book then continues with monthly highlights before offering tips and tricks. Apart from clothing and equipment, basic field craft is touched on, all given in Andrew’s light and approachable style. General advice on personal safety, and in particular care of wildlife, is given along with the more prosaic transport possibilities. The walks themselves, which vary from three to eight miles, are each accompanied by a clear map showing variations, together with a guide to walking times, type of ground to be encountered, and refreshment and travel suggestions. Overall, the walks may appear on the short side but there are plenty of options shown for lengthening as well shortening routes. Four or five pages are then given up on each walk to “Featured wildlife”, before a detailed guide to the route. Illustrated paragraphs are included on subjects likely to be seen, along with notes of seasonal variations. Many local residents may not consider the need for a book of guided walks, but this is so much more, Peter Roberts reviews this extensively illustrated providing an introduction to various habitats and their book by Andrew Walmsley – a long-time New natural residents in an assured and very comfortable Forest resident – of 12 short walks in the New manner. The book is well worth the money for the Forest, complete with wildlife observations informative way the wildlife sections are presented. explaining what to look out for across the An index is included, making for easy access; there seasons among the Forest’s flora and fauna on are also cross-references to A time traveller’s guide the way. for ease of use. Richly illustrated, almost entirely I wonder whether Andrew Walmsley’s latest book with the author’s own photographs, and beautifully should have its title and subtitle reversed; it is a most produced, the book runs to 231 pages. It is a delight useful wildlife guide, whether the reader walks or to read and comes highly recommended, providing not. That it contains a dozen walks – well described an ideal companion to the earlier walk book. with attendant wildlife possibilities and numerous variations, spread over a year – is not in doubt. It is the value of the easily digested snippets on New Forest flora and fauna that makes it so much more New Forest Walks: A seasonal wildlife guide than a walk book. Andrew Walmsley has lived in is published by Sigma Leisure, ISBN 978- the Forest for 25 years, led ornithology walks and 1850589846, RRP £13.99, available from written much in local magazines, as well as a previous bookshops or online from sigmapress.co.uk. walks book in the series – New Forest Walks: A time traveller’s guide.

20 FOREST MATTERS ABOUT US Founded in 1867 as the New Forest Association and Registered Charity No. 260328 Information about the Association can be found on: www.friendsofthenewforest.org www.facebook.com/NewForestAssociation

PATRON AND PRESIDENT Patron: Belinda Lady Montagu President: Oliver Crosthwaite Eyre

OFFICERS Chair: John Ward Vice Chair: Gale Gould Hon Secretary: Keith Braithwaite Hon Treasurer: Brandy Gill

TRUSTEES: Dionis Macnair, Peter Roberts, Brian Tarnoff, William Ziegler

COUNCIL MEMBERS: Bernie Austin, Graham Baker, Maureen Bromley-Smith, Clive Chatters, Michael Chilcott, Jonathan Cox, Roly Errington, Eve Gilmon, Keith Howe, David Humbert, Graham Long, Bob Morris, Leo Randall, Richard Reeves, Neil Sanderson, Jenni Tubbs

HABITAT AND LANDCAPE COMMITTEE Chair: Brian Tarnoff

PLANNING AND TRANSPORT COMMITTEE Chair: Graham Baker © 2017 Simon Chadwick

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP Individual: £15 by standing order (or £17 by cheque) Joint: £25 by standing order (or £29 by cheque)

LIFE MEMBERSHIP Individual: £300 Join through our website or contact: Juliet Lynn (Membership) BE BLOWN AWAY BY DESIGN 14 Shrubbs Avenue Philippa Firth Graphic Design Lymington, SO41 9DJ

GENERAL ENQUIRIES By email: [email protected] [email protected] By phone: www.philippafirth-graphicdesign.com Tel: 07740 289 411 John Ward: 01590 671205

Spring/Summer 2017 21 THE WATERING HOLE, , , NEW FOREST DAREN BAKER Finalist in the National Geographic Traveller Photography Competition 2017 in the Nature category.

“Late in the day at the end of our stay in , we drove out to find one last stop before heading home to Sussex. So, visiting Fritham happened by chance, a name of a village we just happened to like. “It was a beautiful early evening, the sky dark, vibrant with the sun shining through the clouds, lighting up the Forest. After strolling with my girlfriend, kids and donkeys in tow, I noticed a glistening pool of water just off track. I wandered over to take a closer look and found myself taking a few photos of reflections in the water and of the evening trees and skies. “Then, out the corner of my eye, I noticed four ponies trotting through the heather towards the watering hole. Seeing them come through the heather, highlighted by the evening light, was a wonderful sight. But I wasn’t expecting them to circle the watering hole for their evening drink, which is how I came to take this and other photos. It was a lucky moment, capturing nature at its best, seeing the Forest provide for the wild ponies, who seemed totally unfazed by our presence.”

To view more of Daren’s photos, visit www.darenbakerphotography.co.uk.