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The New Forest Trust is co-funding the work radio-tracking the rare Bechsteins bat in the North of the New Forest to enable conservationists to better understand their use of mixed woodland, gathering evidence of maternity roosts, foraging areas and commuting routes.

The New Forest Raptor Monitoring Programme aims to monitor the breeding raptor assemblage in the New Forest primarily through field-based observation of breeding pairs and collection of data on population size, distribution, and productivity. The observational data will be supplemented by ringing and tracking data that aim to provide new insights into foraging movements and post-fledging dispersal. In 2025 the New Forest Trust is funding the GPS tracking of juvenile Goshawks under BTO licence.

The Trust is funding a programme to start vaccinating commoners’ cattle against BVD (Bovine Viral Diarrhoea). Commoners are volunteering to have their Forest-run cows and replacement heifers vaccinated against BVD. This is being done on a first come, first served basis and administered when cattle are marked up for the Forest or commons.  

New Forest CDA Chair Andrew Parry-Norton said: “This is an initiative we have been working on for some time so I am very pleased the funding has now been approved for it. Vaccinating cattle clearly has a number of benefits, with one of the most significant being that it would stop abortion and the more cattle that are vaccinated, the greater chance we have of reducing the transmission of the disease. Being able to offer the vaccination is also a way of helping commoners out from a financial perspective which we know is extremely important right now.”