Ancient woodland restoration

Ancient woods have been around for many centuries – long enough to develop into ecosystems that are rich, complex and irreplaceable.

Officially it is woodland that has existed since 1600AD, but many are much older than this. Some may even link back to the original woodland that covered the UK around 10,000 years ago after the last Ice Age.

Much of what remains has been damaged by planting with non-native conifers or colonisation by invasive species.

Thank you

Thank you to both the National Lottery Players and the Heritage Lottery Fund for your £1.9 million grant, which has enabled us to deliver the Ancient Woodland Restoration Programme nationwide. With your support we have:

• Worked with 564 individual landowners
• Surveyed over 23,000 hectares of threatened ancient woodland
• Committed 15,960 hectares into a process of restoration
• Recruited 134 volunteers who carried out over 2,400 days of volunteer work to help maintain and protect ancient woodlands

Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers, woodland owners, our project partners and the Ancient Woodland Restoration team who have made this project such a success. We look forward to many more years of being able to protect these precious habitats through the legacy of the project.