| Heartwood Forest | |
|---|---|
  Location in Hertfordshire | |
| Location | Sandridge, England |
| Nearest city | St. Albans |
| Coordinates | 51°47′16″N0°19′11″W / 51.7879°N 0.3196°W |
| Governing body | Woodland Trust |
Heartwood Forest is a planned forest (woodland creation site) in Hertfordshire, England. The site covers 347 hectares (860 acres), the largest continuous new native forest in England. [1]
Heartwood Forest is located near Sandridge, St Albans, in the Metropolitan Green Belt. When the Woodland Trust acquired the land in 2008, most of the area consisted of farmland, predominantly oilseed rape fields. [2] Only 18 hectares (44 acres) of the site's total 347 hectares (860 acres) consisted of ancient woodland. [3] The name "Heartwood" was chosen for the growing forest as a nod to the heart-shaped leaves of the rare Lime trees present in these original pockets of ancient woodland. [3]
On 9 December 2009, a Guinness World Record attempt was made for the BBC Tree O'Clock scheme, in association with the Woodland Trust to plant the most new trees as possible in one hour. Three woodland sites made the attempt: the Heartwood Forest, Hainault Forest and Gransha Park. The previous record was 18,124 trees in an hour, [4] held by the Forestry Commission at a site in Scotland. [5] The Heartwood Forest site came second, with 20,326 trees planted, being beaten by Gransha Park where they planted over 26,000 trees in the hour. [4] [5]
The site officially opened on 25 March 2018. [6] Over a period of ten years, roughly 45,000 volunteers, including 17,000 school children, planted a total of 600,000 trees. [2]
The original ancient forest in the area was mostly a bluebell wood. [2] New plantings focused on native species like oak, hornbeam, birch, and willow trees. [7] A community orchard of more than 600 fruit trees similarly focuses on old Hertfortshire varieties, including apple, pear and cherry trees. [2] There is also an arboretum with representatives of all 57 native British tree species, the only such collection in the UK. [2]
In addition to trees, the site contains open grassland and wildflower meadows. [2]
Part of the motivation for the forest planting was to improve biodiversity. [7] The Woodland Trust monitors local wildlife, and found that many species' populations more than doubled between 2010 and 2016, as the forest expanded substantially. [7] Short-eared owls and barn owls returned for the area for the first time in a decade, and several entirely new species were attracted. [7] As of 2017, the trust had recorded 87 different bird species, 62 small mammal species, and 27 butterfly species. [8]
The forest is open to the public free of charge, with marked trails and walking paths throughout. [8] There are also routes to allow riding bicycles or horses. [8] As of 2019, the forest attracted roughly 140,000 visitors a year. [2]
The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972.
In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 is likely to have developed naturally.
Sandridge is a village and civil parish between St Albans and Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, England.
Lower Woods is a 280.1-hectare (692-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest near the village of Wickwar, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1966 and renotified in 1985. The site area has increased at last revision in 1974 to a 284.1-hectare (702-acre) site. The site is a nature reserve managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.
Queen's Wood is a 52-acre area of ancient woodland in the London Borough of Haringey, abutting Highgate Wood and lying between East Finchley, Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch End. It was originally part of the ancient Forest of Middlesex which covered much of London, Hertfordshire and Essex and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. It is now one of three Local Nature Reserves in the London Borough of Haringey. It is situated a few minutes' walk from Highgate tube station.
Great Breach and Copley Woods is a 64.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest 1 km south of Compton Dundon and 5 km south-east of Street in Somerset, England, notified in 1972.
Wentwood, in Monmouthshire, South Wales, is a forested area of hills, rising to 1,014 feet (309 m) above sea level. It is located to the northeast of, and partly within the boundaries of, the city of Newport.
Brandon Marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and nature reserve in Warwickshire, England. It is situated adjacent to the River Avon, near the village of Brandon, a few miles east of Coventry.
Bedford Purlieus is a 211-hectare (520-acre) ancient woodland in Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. It is a national nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest owned and managed by the Forestry Commission. In Thornhaugh civil parish, 10 km (6.2 mi) south of Stamford and 14 km (8.7 mi) west of Peterborough, the wood is within the Peterborough unitary authority area of Cambridgeshire, and borders Northamptonshire. In Roman times it was an iron smelting centre, during the medieval period it was in the Royal Forest of Rockingham, and later it became part of the estates of the Duke of Bedford. Bedford Purlieus appears to have been continuously wooded at least from Roman times, and probably since the ice receded. The woodland may have the richest range of vascular plants of any English lowland wood. It acquired particular significance in the 1970s as an early subject for the historical approach to ecology and woodland management.
Pamber Forest and Silchester Common is a 341.7-hectare (844-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Tadley in Hampshire. Pamber Forest and Upper Inhams Copse is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and Pamber Forest is a Local Nature Reserve.
Warburton's Wood Nature Reserve is a nature reserve near Kingsley, Cheshire, England, managed by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust.
Old Park Wood is a 16.7-hectare (41-acre) Site of Special Scientific Interest in Harefield in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The south-east part is an 8-hectare (20-acre) nature reserve owned and managed by the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.
The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Wood is a woodland in Leicestershire, UK created in 2012. Covering 186 hectares, it is the centrepiece of a wide-ranging Jubilee Project by the Woodland Trust to mark the 2012 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The site incorporates a former opencast coal mine which now has a newly created lake, as well as former arable land and 7 hectares of existing ancient woodland and old hedgerows. Situated between the villages of Normanton le Heath, Heather and Ravenstone, and close to Coalville and Ashby de la Zouch, it is in the middle of the National Forest.
Collinpark Wood is a 66.69-hectare (164.8-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Gloucestershire, notified in 1966, revised in 1974 and renotified in 1983. There was a boundary change in 1983. There are seven units of assessment. Unit 1 is a 15-hectare (37-acre) area owned and managed by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The trust purchased this part of the wood in 1979 with grant aid from WWF. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Upper Wye Gorge is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), noted for its biological and geological characteristics, around Symonds Yat in the Wye Valley on the Wales–England border. The site is listed in the 'Forest of Dean Local Plan Review' as a Key Wildlife Site (KWS).
Knebworth Woods is a 120.8-hectare (299-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Knebworth, immediately south of Stevenage in Hertfordshire. The planning authority is North Hertfordshire District Council.
Tring Woodlands is a 23.8-hectare (59-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Tring in Hertfordshire. It is part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the local planning authority is Dacorum District Council. The wood has a rich flora, showing that it is well established. It is a good example of a semi-natural beech wood in Hertfordshire. Plants that are abundant include woodruff, wood anemone and dog's mercury, and there are a variety of woodland birds. There is access to the wood from Hastoe Hill.
Stocking Springs Wood is a 1.1-hectare (2.7-acre) nature reserve between Ayot St Lawrence and Ayot St Peter in Welwyn Hatfield district in Hertfordshire. It is managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.
Rushbeds Wood is a 56-hectare (140-acre) nature reserve near Wotton Underwood in Buckinghamshire, managed by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). It is a surviving fragment of the ancient Bernwood Forest. The reserve is part of Rushbeds Wood and Railway Cutting, an 80.2-hectare (198-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. This includes a section of the Chiltern Main Line railway cutting, which runs along the north-east side of the BBOWT reserve.
Filsham Reedbed is an 18.5-hectare (46-acre) Local Nature Reserve on the western outskirts of St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex. It is owned by Hastings Borough Council and managed by Sussex Wildlife Trust. It is part of Combe Haven Site of Special Scientific Interest.
