Ancient woods get Lottery money

The £1.9m grant will preserve 52,000 hectares of damaged ancient woodland, one of the country's rarest and most precious habitats and home to 2561 rare or threatened species of wildlife.

Ten priority areas equivalent to one third the size of London will be restored in the five-year project, which begins in 2014.

The Woodland Trustsaid it will work with more than 1,000 landowners, offering information, advice and training to help them restore conifer woods to their natural broadleaved state.

A number of public volunteering opportunities will also be available during the course of the project.

Tim Hodges, Woodland Restoration Programme manager, said:

“The key to the project is the urgency. Many conifer plantations which have been planted since the Second World War are approaching maturity and due to be felled.

“By working with landowners now to begin restoring these woods there is a once in a lifetime opportunity to prevent these woods being re-stocked with a further round of conifers which could compound the damage already done to the wildlife that remains.

“We have a responsibility to restore our ancient woods and protect them for future generations.”

Ancient woodland restoration involves the gradual removal of conifers from a plantation, to allow a greater amount of light to penetrate the woodland canopy, encouraging specialist ancient woodland species to recover and reverse years of damage.

Ancient woodland covers 2% of the UK's landmass and links back to the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago.

The total project cost is £2.9 million, with £1.9 million being funded directly by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Trustis appealing for public donations to make up a £530,000 funding gap, with the remaining support coming from partner organisations.