About Wild New Forest
Our history
Wild New Forest was established in 2016 and incorporated as an independent, not-for-profit, community interest company (CIC) in Dec 2019. Over the last five years we have developed an extensive portfolio of ecological survey and research projects in and around the New Forest National Park, and in Jan 2024 Wild New Forest became hosting partner of the New Forest Biodiversity Forum. A separate spin-out company called Wild New Forest Guided Tours was also established at this time to enable focussed delivery of guided wildlife tours.​​
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Our team
We are a local family business living and working in the New Forest, and we partner with an extensive network of specialists to deliver our project portfolio.
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Prof Russell Wynn is Founder and Director of Wild New Forest. He has a science background, and in his 20-year science career at the National Oceanography Centre he published over 100 peer-reviewed science papers and took on a variety of senior management roles, including Associate Director for Government, International, and Public Engagement. He switched careers in Jan 2020 to fully focus on nature conservation, and established Wild New Forest CIC with the strapline "working for wildlife in the New Forest National Park". Russ is currently also Chair of the New Forest Biodiversity Forum, Vice-Chair of the Habitats and Landscape Committee of the New Forest Association, and an Honorary Professor at University of Southampton. He was also formerly Manager of the England Curlew Recovery Partnership, a Trustee of Curlew Action, and a Secretary of State appointed member of the New Forest National Park Authority.​​
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Christine Sams is an Associate Director at Wild New Forest. Following a 14-year career in engineering (CEng), Christine moved into environmental science at the National Oceanography Centre with a focus on developing and delivering collaborative projects to translate research knowledge into practical solutions. She developed and led a portfolio of projects that are developing new capabilities to measure environmental change and that are expanding the use of scientific observations. Funding partners included the European Space Agency, UK Space Agency, UKRI NERC, and the Future Earth network. She is currently leading Wild New Forest's work on climate change.​​
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Our natural history experience​
Wild New Forest specialise in delivering integrated ecological surveys that cover the three kingdoms of animals, plants, and fungi.
Russ has over three decades of natural history field experience, and has recorded over 3200 species in the New Forest National Park, including 250 mammals and birds, 1000 moths and butterflies, and 1200 plants and fungi. He has also found several nationally rare birds, moths, bugs, and fungi that are first records for Hampshire and the New Forest, including species as diverse as Stilt Sandpiper, Rustic Bunting, Black V Moth, Samphire Straw, Pondweed Leafhopper (pic below), and Rothole Inkcap. Further afield, he has also found many nationally rare birds on remote UK islands and headlands, and in 2015 he secured the first ever photographs of Blue Whale in English waters (see here).
In addition to standard ecological walkover surveys, Wild New Forest routinely deploy a range of technologies and techniques including infrared trail cameras, acoustic bat detectors, nocturnal (non-destructive) moth traps, and sampling of rare/cryptic fungi for DNA analysis (in partnership with Hampshire Fungus Recording Group).
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Our environmental commitment
We are committed to minimising our environmental footprint during Wild New Forest activities. The vast majority of our travel to/from sites is via non-motorised transport, and we follow and promote the New Forest code (shown below). As a CIC we are also committed to supporting our local community, and we deliver this via various outreach activities as outlined here.​​
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