The Royal Oak and New Forest Wildlife

Get closer to nature, but watch out though, you will find many animals wondering wild across and down the roads!

When you visit The New Forest there are a group of about 5,000 locals that you can't but help noticing. They have been hanging around for about 2,000 years and what they don't know about the forest is not worth knowing. We are talking about the wonderful New Forest Ponies of course!

All of the ponies found in the forest are wild in the sense they can roam freely but in fact they are owned by New Forest Commoners.

The commoners have the right to graze their ponies and cattle on the open forest throughout the year. It is the animals’ grazing which helps to keep the New Forest’s landscape and rare species which you can enjoy today. The ancient tradition of commoning dates back from before the days when William the Conqueror made this area his private hunting reserve and imposed strict laws on the locals. In return for this, the locals were given the rights to graze their animals on the ‘common’ (this being the land which is now known as the New Forest). Think of the New Forest as one large farm!.

thenewforest.co.uk/explore/wildlife-and-nature/ponies