The Nature of the New Forest, Clive Chatters

FORMER national park authority chair and conservationist Clive Chatters has published a book dedicated to the flora and fauna of the New Forest’s unique landscape.

Describing the national park as an extraordinary survivor of a medieval landscape and pastoral economy, Clive’s book The Nature of The New Forest reveals the area supports one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife in the lowlands of north-west Europe.

Illustrated with over 670 colour photographs, the book describes the outstanding diversity of habitats to be found in the New Forest, including heathland and bogs, old-growth woodlands, species-rich grasslands, coastal habitats, clean-water ponds and a suite of unmodified river systems running from springheads to the sea.

Clive has lived and worked in the New Forest for more than 40 years as a naturalist and nature conservationist in a range of paid and voluntary roles. Following a few years with the Nature Conservancy Council in Lyndhurst, he currently works for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Clive served as chair of the New Forest National Park Authority and is a verderer and an active member of the Friends of The New Forest (The New Forest Association).

Following an introduction to the New Forest’s geology and geomorphology, Clive explores the wealth of wildlife to be found in the area, including flowers and ferns, mosses, lichens and fungi, fish, reptiles and amphibians, birds, mammals, insects and other invertebrates such as worms, leeches, spiders and snails.

Clive said: “Much of what makes the New Forest special is the survival of once commonplace species which have been lost elsewhere through habitat destruction and lack of management; the book emphasises the ecological importance of the open Forest and the need to maintain the traditional grazing by commoners’ livestock.

“A growing appreciation of the dynamic nature of the New Forest, driven by grazing, fire and ground disturbance, provides an inspiration for the restoration of wild places.”

The Nature of The New Forest (ISBN 978-1-913994-14-3) is published by Pisces Publications and costs £38.50 (plus £4.50 for postage). Copies can be ordered online at www.naturebureau.co.uk/bookshop or by sending a cheque, payable to Pisces Publications, to Pisces Publications, 2C Votec Centre, Hambridge Lane, Newbury, RG14 5TN.