National Trust in the New Forest

National Trust helps to shape New Forest’s future

The National Trust has a long term plan for managing, preserving and restoring parts of the New Forest.
The Trust, the second largest landowner in the New Forest, owns and manages 1600 hectares (4000 acres) on five different sites, and supports ‘commoning’, the ancient system of farming that has shaped these commons.
“We have a plan, encompassing 50 years or more, to help shape the future of the New Forest,” said Phil Marshall, the National Trust’s Countryside Manager, based at Mottisfont near Romsey.

The Trust’s latest acquisition, Foxbury Plantation, 150 hectares near Plaitford, will be returned to heathland and deciduous woodland, after years of being used as a plantation. The old network of ponds, ditches and streams will be restored and public access will be welcomed, as on all the Trust sites in the Forest.

Phil’s colleague, Doug England, the Trust’s project officer for the New Forest, has been instrumental in restoring deciduous woodland, heathland and a natural boggy mire at Ibsley Common, encouraging a flourishing flora and fauna.
“Our land offers different eco-systems and habitats which we must manage in an exemplary fashion,” said Doug. “Very few people realise that we own so much land in the Forest, even though many use it every day for recreational purposes.

The National Trust is the second largest landowner in the New Forest, with 2400 hectares on five different sites on the western and eastern edges.
The properties within the established New Forest boundary are:
• Hale Purlieu
• Bramshaw Commons
• Rockford, Ibsley
• Hightown Commons
• Foxbury Plantation (recently acquired, is just outside this boundary, but within the National Park).

Doug England spends much of his working life exploring the countryside, noting bird and animal species, looking at trees and plants and talking to people who live and work there.
But this isn’t just any old countryside and Doug’s scrutiny is professional.

As Project Officer for the National Trust in the New Forest he knows every hectare of the five different sites owned by the Trust in the New Forest and is instrumental in ensuring that the land is managed in the best possible way for conservation, for livestock and for the visitors who come to enjoy these sometimes remote landscapes.

Many of those visitors are unaware that these large areas, amounting to 1600 hectares (4000 acres), are owned by the National Trust, who have embarked on a long-term programme of restoration, conservation and management.

Doug, 33, is passionate about the countryside, his enthusiasm engendered by an aunt and uncle who spent years in Africa watching the wildlife and who brought tales of their adventures home to their nephew.
“I knew I wanted to work with the land, so I wrote to every organisation I could think of, offering to work as a volunteer,” he said.
His letter struck a chord with the National Trust’s Countryside Manager Phil Marshall, based at Mottisfont.
The voluntary work, combined with a three year course at Sparsholt College taught Doug about habitat conservation and managing wildlife.

His first major project in the New Forest was organising the clearance of an overgrown plantation at Ibsley Common, a huge area of steeply undulating ground, much of it boggy, shaped by glacial erosion and supporting a wide variety of uncommon birds, animals and plants.
‘Newlands Plantation was positioned over a natural mire, which suffered badly because of the trees” said Doug.
“We cleared thousands of tons of wood and helped the boggy ground settle by reducing the water flow, using bales of heather. The way it came back was amazing.”
Now, as ponies graze nearby, carnivorous sundews and cotton lavender flourish in the wet ground, curlew, lapwing and snipe make their nests and the whole area has regenerated.

Elsewhere on Ibsley Common nightjars nest in secret places under gorse, sand lizards breed and sun themselves on the heath, many butterflies and moths flutter over the heather. If you know what you’re looking out for, you might be lucky enough to see the large marsh grasshopper or even the blue flash of a kingfisher flying past along Dockens Water, a forest stream used by salmon returning to their breeding grounds.

Ibsley and adjoining Rockford Common make up one of the five parcels of land in the Trust’s stewardship. As with the rest of the New Forest, the landscape in each of the very different areas has been sculpted by grazing cattle and ponies owned by small farmers or ‘commoners’ who have historic rights to the land.

The Trust also owns Hale Purlieu and Bramshaw commons, Hightown Common and the newly acquired Foxbury Plantation which they plan to restore to scrub and open heathland with access for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
“Each of our pieces of land offers different habitats and eco-systems and each is open to the public,” said Doug. “Our role is to support the commoners whose animals graze the land, restore and regenerate the natural landscapes in a way that is sustainable and to help visitors enjoy and understand these special areas.
The work we do now will ensure that we hand over to future generations a unique landscape with its own rich flora and fauna,” he said.