The New Forest is one of Europe’s premier nature conservation sites, renowned for its vast scale, diversity and quality of habitats shaped by centuries of human interaction. A Special Area of Conservation (SAC), it covers some 29,000ha (hectares), supporting a complex mosaic of habitats formerly common in lowland western Europe but now rare and fragmented—these include extensive wet and dry heaths; valley mires; wet and dry grasslands; ancient pasture and enclosed woodland; rivers and streams; and permanent and temporary ponds. 13 habitats of European interest are outstandingly represented, with two priority habitat types—bog and riverine woodland.
The habitats support exceptionally diverse flora and fauna, including the richest moss and lichen in lowland Europe; scarce flora including slender cotton-grass, wild gladiolus, pennyroyal and small fleabane; and an outstanding community of invertebrates including southern damselfly and stag beetle.
The New Forest is also a Special Protection Area (SPA), with the largest number of Dartford warbler in Britain and internationally important populations of nightjar and woodlark.
These precious habitats are dependent upon the management of the Forest’s various owners and occupiers. Fundamentally important throughout the Crown Lands and Adjacent Commons is the pastoral economy, based on the Rights of Common. Here, commoners’ stock (cattle and ponies) roam freely—a crucial role that maintains open habitats by controlling persistent species like bracken and purple moor-grass, which maintains the richness of heathland and wood pasture. Other forms of traditional management complements this, like heathland burning and cutting, which ensures structurally diverse habitats.