The New Forest’s Overgrazed Stream Sides and Woodlands.

The banks of New Forest streams have changed significantly over the years. Long before I started photographing the New Forest in the 1970s streamsides were steadily being opened up by livestock as they grazed and trampled these fragile areas into blandness, and it is a problem that continues to the present day.  If managing the open Forest continues to prioritise traditional practices, then maybe it's not such a bad idea to refer to photographs taken earlier in the 20th Century to gain a better understanding of the changes that have occurred.  Many stream banks were grazed out long before I began taking…