The New Forest. A Year In The Life.

Watch a interesting program that was shown on bbc 2 about life through the year in the New Forest and how we need areas like this in the UK. The New Forest isn't a massive woodland area, its about 20 miles squared made up mainly of beach and oak but its full of life in part thanks to the work of the Common Farmers and the Coppicers. Common Farmers are people that live locally and have the right to graze there live stock in the forest plus they look after and own the majority of ponies that live all the year round within the area. These people like other farmers aren't making a massive living from the profession but their work is vital in keeping the forest in its present state, many of them also are keeping alive a tradition and heritage that stretches back many hundreds of years so to lose them would have two fold consequences for such a beautiful landscape. A good way to look at it is that this is a wilderness created by nature but worked by man while trying to find its place in the modern world. With the work of the livestock keeping the vegetation crop low comes the benefits to the wildlife, in the forest you can find many species that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else such as the Sand Lizards that live on the health land and the insect life that thrives on the fallen decaying wood that by law can now not be removed for personal use. One of the best success stories is the return of the Coppice Butterfly which feeds only on the violets that grow in the cleared area where Coppicing has taken place. What this is when a small area of over grown woodland is cut back in a manged fashion so that in years to come it'll grow back ready for the same process of clearing to begin again, this is a job usually undertaken by a single person and there'll work the one area for 12 months before moving onto the next. Again like common farming it isn't a well paid job and in part it's a dying art although more people are slowly taking up the practice than in other times past so this has to be a good sign for future management of the landscape. One of the most interesting points I found raised in the program was the question why are woodlands so important to use, the answer given by one women was that it helps us connect to our past when we live in the great northern forest's that stretch all around the northern hemisphere and now can only be found in small pockets like this. She also says that when you think about it a lot of the much loved stories we're told as children relate to the forest in some way so we have an almost unconscious connection to them deep rooted in our minds. I know one thing when I go walking in forests or woodlands I find it a very calming relaxing place so maybe this is the reason behind that.

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