The Sherwood Forest Trust is delighted to announce that it has been awarded £249k from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for its project ‘Sherwood’s No Longer Forgotten Heathlands’ which will run over three years ending in March 2028.
The Sherwood Forest Trust is the only charity whose work is solely focussed on the protection, preservation and promotion of Sherwood Forest. While Sherwood is famous for its woods and trees, it is also home to a precious heathland landscape – but one that is fast disappearing, and we need to do all that we can to protect and improve what remains.
Lowland heathland in Nottinghamshire is a rare and precious habitat which is home to some incredible wildlife, including adders and nightjars, and sites include Oak Tree Heath in Mansfield and Sherwood Heath in Ollerton.
The Sherwood Forest Trust works hard, with the help of dedicated volunteers, to protect and restore this habitat. This is done through careful conservation by clearing scrub and managing invasive plant species, which encourages the native plants and wildlife to thrive. Without this funding, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, some of those species could be lost forever.
The charity works closely with local community groups, such as the Friends of Sherwood Heath, who are a great help with looking after their heathland areas and raising awareness of these fantastic green spaces. Please get in touch at info@sherwoodforesttrust.org.uk to join the team of volunteers at their weekly heathland sessions.
This project is therefore aimed at restoring and creating new heathlands and supporting their nature and bio-diversity to provide for:
- The purple glow of bell heather and ling, pale blue harebells.
- Green tiger beetles and longhorn beetles
- The churr of the nightjar and the gleam of glow-worms at dusk
- A lizard scuttling through the bracken
- A welcoming green space that helps capture carbon to combat
The project aims to broaden public understanding of the importance of heathlands and encourage more people to help volunteer to help conserve the sites.
Helen Sullivan, CEO, said: “Being awarded this grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund is a fantastic achievement for the Trust to help build on our heathland programme of works. It is all the sweeter as it comes at the time of our 30th anniversary year. Thanks to National Lottery players we can increase our capacity to do more important conservation work across heathland sites, together with landowners and partners. We are also very keen to get more people involved in helping to support the wonderful nature of Sherwood.”
Find out more about the Sherwood Forest Trust, become a ‘Sherwood Supporter’ and make a donation to support their mission at www.sherwoodforest.org.uk.