Rockingham Forest project awarded nearly £250k by lottery fund

The forest used to stretch as far south as Northampton and west towards Rugby and Leicester

A two-year project aiming to bring people closer to a historic forest has been given £248,599 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Building the Links for Rockingham Forest will offer guided walks and workshops in the Northamptonshire woodland and other habitats.

The Nene Rivers Trust said it would "reconnect people with the natural environments that sustain them".

King John (reigned 1199-1216) used to hunt in the forest.

Rockingham Forest covers an area between the rivers Nene and Welland, stretching from Corby to the edge of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.

Project leaders said it was home to "some of the best ancient woodlands in England", some of which occur in the centre of Corby.

They added that while pockets of original habitat remain, fragmentation of the original forest, through development, agriculture, commercial forestry and mineral extraction, had "reduced and continue to impact adversely upon the forest's value".

These silver birch trees at Easton Headstocks are a remnant of the ancient Rockingham Forest

It was hoped the project, whose partners include North Northamptonshire Council, the Royal Forestry Society (RFS), Natural England and the Nene Rivers Trust, would bring hundreds of people to the forest to learn about wildlife.

The current series of guided walks to lesser-known parts of the forest will be built upon and some will concentrate on themes such as wildflowers, fungi, moths, trees or birds.

These will be linked to workshops enabling people to gain more identification skills and engage in more advanced wildlife recording, practical woodland management such as coppicing, and charcoal making.

An extension of the RFS Teaching Trees programme would provide schools visits.

​The Nene Rivers Trust said the project would also highlight nature in the centre of Corby, which has parts of the ancient forest within its boundaries.

Chief executive of the trust, Kathryn Soares, said: "This funding will support our enthusiastic and committed partnership to realise ambitions to reconnect local people with the natural environments that sustain them."

Chairman of Natural England, Tony Juniper, said the forest's project was a "fine example of the large scale ambition we must adopt as we plan for nature's recovery in England, not only helping the return of our depleted wildlife, but also enhancing the historic environment and providing more opportunities for everyone to enjoy this magnificent landscape".

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