WILDLIFE specialists looked at ways of making New Forest habitats bigger, better and more joined up.

The New Forest Wildlife Forum saw representatives from wildlife organisations discussing their on-going work to help improve the extent and quality of habitats and provide habitat links to the area surrounding the national park.

More than 70 people attended the one day event in Lyndhurst.

Julie Melin-Stubbs, wildlife and conservation team manager at the New Forest National Park Authority, said: “The aim was to bring many of the people involved in wildlife conservation in the New Forest together to talk about the projects they are running.

“We were able to find out where there might be overlaps in our work and therefore opportunities to work more closely together to protect and improve habitats in and around the park.”

Alison Barnes, National Park Authority chief executive, added: “There are so many people in the New Forest doing such important conservation work. There is a real need to bring all these people together and the wildlife forum has been a great first step towards this.”