Woolmer Forest
| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
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 Location within Hampshire
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| Area of Search | Hampshire & West Sussex |
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| Grid reference | SU800322 |
| Coordinates | 51°05′00″N 0°51′25″W / 51.083445°N 0.857016°WCoordinates: 51°05′00″N 0°51′25″W / 51.083445°N 0.857016°W |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 1,294 ha (3,200 acres) |
| Notification | 1959 |
| Natural England website | |
Woolmer Forest is a former medieval royal hunting forest. It lies within the western Weald in the South Downs National Park, straddling the border between east Hampshire and West Sussex. Covering an area of some 1,293.9 hectares (3,197 acres), it is both a Special Area of Conservation and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Historically a largely treeless heathland on sterile sandy soils, the forest was traditionally managed, like other royal forests, as "wood pasture" in which deer would be kept for hunting by the aristocracy for sport and for venison, and where commoners were permitted to graze their livestock. The forest today consists of both dry and humid lowland heath. It contains the largest and most diverse area of lowland heathland habitats outside the New Forest and is considered to be the most important area of heathland in the Weald of southern England; it is the only site in England known to support all twelve known native species of reptiles and amphibians, and it supports a nationally important heathland flora with associated birds and invertebrate fauna.
Woolmer village lies within the confines of the forest.
Woolmer Forest straddles two upland watersheds, that of the River Wey and that of the River Rother. In its sandy soil, streams have cut wide valleys into the gently undulating terrain. On upland sites, dry heath predominates, characterised by heather Calluna vulgaris and bell heather Erica cinerea. The driest sandy patches support some well-adapted (xeric) uncommon plants. Humid heath, which requires less free-draining subsoils, is characterized by cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix and purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea, which are joined in the wettest valley bottoms by sphagnum moss and carnivorous sundews. These moisture-retaining habitats grade into complex acidic boggy wetlands of hummocks and pools, locally called "mires". Here are the largest populations in England of the trailing bog cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccos.
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