major), garden warbler (Sylvia borin), blackcap (S. atricapilla), chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), marsh tit (Parus palustris), nuthatch (Sitta europaea), treecreeper Certhia familiaris and jay (Garrulus glandarius). Buzzards (Buteo buteo) regularly hunt over the tree canopy. Hobby (Falco subbuteo), woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), common firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) and brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) are occasional visitors. Selborne Common is a reliable place to find the wood warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix). Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) are resident mammals. History and management From the prehistoric or Romano-British period there is evidence of a field system, which may have been re-used during the Middle Ages. The Common has not been ploughed since then. Earthworks on the western boundary have tentatively been dated to the mid thirteenth century, when Newton Park was emparked. An earth bank, running across the Common, has been dated to around 1750 and was probably used to protect coppice woodland from grazing animals. During the eighteenth century, the lord of the manor felled beeches on the Common. Local people exercised their common rights to graze cattle and sheep and to collect firewood, activities which continued into the 1950s. In mediaeval times the nearby Selborne Priory was lord of the manor of Selborne; the manor subsequently passed to Magdalen College, Oxford, which donated it to the National Trust in 1932. Cattle have recently been reintroduced in an attempt to reconstruct the ancient, flower-rich, wood-pasture habitat which commoning produced and which has almost disappeared from England. A dew pond, Wood Pond, is situated near the western boundary. Gilbert White Selborne Common is internationally famous for its association with the eighteenth-century naturalist, Gilbert White. Access The Common is freely accessible to all, subject to the National Trust's byelaws. It is best approached from Selborne, via the (steep) Zig-Zag or Bostal paths (car park behind the Selborne Arms public house, Ordnance Survey reference ). A more level track leads to the Common from Newton Valence; footpaths join it also from the south-east and north-west. After rain and especially in winter, some paths can become very muddy. Selborne Common is on the Hangers Way. References Bibliography Brewis, Anne, et al. (1996) The Flora of Hampshire. Harley Books, Summary of the archaeology by Chris Webb, Property Manager The Common Lands of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: A Biological Survey National Trust page about Selborne Common National Trust properties in Hampshire Sites of Special