New woods to celebrate the Jubilee in UK

Plans were recently unveiled for a new public woodland spanning hundreds of acres to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The 186-hectare woodland in the National Forest in Leicestershire will cover an area bigger than London’s Regent’s Park, and will form the centrepiece of the Woodland Trust’s biggest tree-planting campaign.

The Trust aims to plant six million trees, creating hundreds of new woodlands, including Jubilee Woods of up to eight hectares and 60 Diamond Woods of more than 24 hectares across the UK, to commemorate the Jubilee next year.

The Trust launched an appeal to raise £3.3 million to purchase and plant the site, which will become the biggest block of woodland owned by a single organisation within the National Forest estate.

The Woodland Trust said the new forest would provide access to the natural environment for the 10 million people who live within 90 minutes’ drive of the site and create habitat for wildlife ranging from otters to yellowhammers.

Birds such as marsh tits could be attracted in from nearby areas, while the site’s open land could become home to skylarks and starlings.

The new wood will protect existing ancient woodland, while ancient hedgerows and the wood’s edges will provide homes for insects and butterflies.

Even the otter, which has bounced back from extinction in recent years and is now present in the area, could colonise the existing lake at the site, the Trust predicts.

The organisation aims to increase public access and link up existing rights of way.

Sue Holden, chief executive officer of the Woodland Trust, said: “We need to help create woodland for the nation, to give everyone access to the beauty of the natural world and create a legacy for the Queen’s Jubilee.