Sunset at Horseshoe Bottom with sunburst over rolling heathland and fields beneath a wide blue sky with scattered clouds

Project Spotlights

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Project spotlights

Discover the wide range of habitat restoration work helping to protect and enhance the New Forest landscape, delivered by Forestry England through the HLS scheme.

This page shines a spotlight on some of the key projects focused on restoring and reconnecting vital habitats — from wetlands and woodlands to heathlands and valley mires.

Shallow woodland channel with still brown water, reeds and grasses in the foreground, and trees and shrubs behind

Knightwood

A wetland restoration project to restore Winding Shoot, a tributary of the Black Water which has been artificially straightened and deepened, along with the wetland habitats in the area which have been dried out by forestry drainage.  

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Winter moorland with tall dry grasses, wooden fence lines, and leafless trees under a clear blue sky

Picket Mire

A project involving the restoration of a small valley mire that was being damaged and dried out by a drain, that was becoming increasingly incised and eroded by heavy winter rainfall.  

 

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Grassland with trees in the background and a cloudy sky

Matley Bog

Work here removed large stands of conifer, naturally regenerating conifer and invasive rhododendron which, collectively, were drying out the wetland and altering the natural soil characteristics of the area.

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Grassland shot from above

Penny Moor

This project aimed to restore the extensive wetland habitat at Penny Moor, which supports a huge array of unusual and nationally important wetland plant species. 

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Wootton - Avon Water - bank overflow

Wootton

A large scale, two and a half mile river restoration project on the Avon Water, which aimed to restore the remnant meanders and remove the artificial drainage. 

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Stacks of felled birch logs and branches scattered across a woodland clearing at Gritnam Wood, with stumps and standing trees

Gritnam Wood

An ancient and ornamental woodland restoration project aiming to support rare lichen assemblages by thinning dense areas of woodland to increase light availability.

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Horses and a foal grazing on a grassy field beside a woodland edge with bare tree trunks under a cloudy sky

Balmer Lawn

A ‘lost lawns’ project, looking at restoring characteristic New Forest herbaceous rich grassland habitat which had been placed under pressure by regenerating trees and scrub. 

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Shallow stream running through a wet grassy meadow, with leafless trees and woodland under a clear blue sky

Furzey Lodge and Hawkhill Mire

Two wetland restoration sites where fixed point photography has been used to monitor the effectiveness of the restoration work.

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Side-by-side photo of holly regeneration: cut tree stumps with new shoots on left, dense leafy holly bush on right

Holly regeneration

Across the open Forest, small fenced-off areas have been established to protect holly regeneration from browsing pressure.

These holly regeneration ‘pens’ are located in areas where holly holms are dying and where basal regrowth is taking place, but cannot become established due to high browsing pressure from deer and livestock.

The trials last for five to six years to allow for enough growth that when the fences are taken down, they will be able to survive.

The before and after photo on the left shows the impact these fences have on holly growth.