ITN VISIT AMAZON; SIAN LLOYD AT WENTWORTH

Lawrence McGinty, ITN's Science Editor, is currently visiting the environmental hotspots of the world in a global tour for a series of reports '3 Degrees from Disaster': He has just posted up three entries on his blog from the Amazon, accessible here




Weather forecaster and TV personality Siân Lloyd was on hand on February 27th at a tree-planting event to celebrate the success of the Woodland Trust's campaign to save Wentwood Forest - the largest ancient woodland in Wales. The Trust had to raise at least £1.5 million to secure the purchase of the site; the local public appeal alone raised over £100,000, while at least 30,000 individual donations were received from across the UK and the world.

The 1,100-hectare (2,750-acre) Wentwood Forest is the remnant of a vast woodland that once stretched from the river Usk in south Wales to the Wye Valley. It is mentioned in the 12th century Book of Llandaff and was once a royal hunting forest. As well as being the largest ancient woodland in Wales, it is also one of the largest ancient woodland sites in the UK. The forest and surrounding area is home to thousands of wildlife species, including dormice, 23 species of native butterfly, 75 species of birds and plants such as wild daffodil, wood sorrel and yellow pimpernel.

The majority of the forest is managed by Forest Enterprise (FE) and is mostly planted with spruce and larch, with remnants of deciduous oak and beech woodland. FE now plans to de-coniferise the site to achieve 60 per cent broadleaf cover.The 352 hectares (870 acres) the Trust has bought, was stripped of the majority of its broadleaves to provide valuable timber for the First World War and was subsequently planted with conifers. Yet remnants of the ancient woodland and flora survive and the Trust aims to restore it to 90 per cent broadleaf cover over the next 90 years. Further Details on: http://www.savewentwoodforest.org.uk/
Fiona Anderson