The plateau is occupied by more beechwood, mixed with other broad-leaved species such as English oak (Quercus robur), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), and in places is scrubby.

A small part of the plateau comprises open grassland with scattered gorse (Ulex europaeus) and stands of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum).

Butterflies on the Common include the Duke of Burgundy (Hamearis lucina), silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia) and purple emperor (Apatura iris).

The avifauna includes most of the species typical of broad-leaved woodland in southern England, such as sparrowhawk (Accipter nisus), stock dove (Columba oenas), tawny owl (Strix aluco), European green woodpecker (Picus viridis), great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos 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).

Hobby (Falco subbuteo), woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), common firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) and brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) are occasional visitors.

Earthworks on the western boundary have tentatively been dated to the mid thirteenth century, when Newton Park was emparked.

Local people exercised their common rights to graze cattle and sheep and to collect firewood, activities which continued into the 1950s.

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.