Varied ancient wood pasture with ponds, streams, meadows and reclaimed arable land under conversion back to woodland
Ebernoe Common is dominated by old wood pasture where Commoners would have turned out their cattle or pigs to graze and browse on young trees and scrub, beech mast and acorns, or on the grassy meadows in glades and clearings. Grazing stopped by the middle of the 20th century and the wood pasture became more and more overgrown. When Sussex Wildlife Trust bought the reserve in 1980 great effort went into opening up glades and rides, and restoring grazing to the reserve.
