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The New Forest pony is now a recognised breed, but originally comes from Welsh stock with introductions of other ponies such as Highland, Exmoor and Dartmoor. Interestingly, ponies have right of way over vehicles on New Forest roads.

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The late summer is the start of the annual pony round-ups, known as 'drifts'. Then in September, New Forest has a pony sale, where ponies are being sold at such low prices that the commoners selling them are making a loss.

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The New Forest has more than a quarter of Britain’s remaining lowland heaths and thus is crucially important for heathland creatures.ÌýFor example, sand lizards are so rare because this habitat is rare. In the late 1980s, Martin Noble pioneered a programme of captive breeding and successfully brought the lizards back from the brink of extinction.

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Heathland – such as that found in the New ForestÌý–Ìýis rarer globally than rainforest. These heathlands are also home to some of Britain’s rarest birds, like the tiny Dartford warbler.Ìý In fact, the New Forest is home to the UK’s largest breeding population of this rare bird.

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