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Commoners in the New Forest weren't allowed to fence in their properties or livestock – that would have interfered with the royal hunt - but they could graze pigs, cattle and ponies here. These rights still exist today. There are about 2,000 ponies in the New Forest, a mix of owned and feral ponies. They spend most of their time eating - even prickly stuff like holly bushes and hawthorn. They make manicured 'lawns' by grazing, except they're covered in horse manure - ponies do poo an awful lot. But short grass and dung is irresistible to some creatures. Crows look for insects in the dung and green woodpeckers spend a lot of time poking about in lawns to collect ants and grubs in the grass and dung.