‘Royal’ woodland for Chatsworth estate

The Woodland Trust and the Forestry Commission have linked up with the estate to create a 62-acre Diamond Wood.

The project will be backed with a £155,000 grant from the commission as part of its work on the Derbyshire estate to create habitats to halt the decline in vulnerable woodland bird species.

More than 40,000 trees and shrubs will be planted on moorland next to the A619 road leading to Baslow, with the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire planting the first trees in November.

The Duke said: “The area chosen for the wood is significant as it will help continue the estate’s woodland for birds project in partnership with the Forestry Commission, which has seen thousands of trees planted with the sole aim of encouraging a number of woodland bird species to re-establish following years of decline in the region.”

Meanwhile, the Forestry Commission is drawing up a long-term blueprint for the 1,825-acre Broxa Forest, near Scarborough.

Planning officer Nigel Rylance said: “One of the key conservation aims is to create more wildlife corridors allowing animals to travel through the landscape and also connecting habitats together.”

Although much of Broxa is plantation woodland, which took root as part of a push to increase tree cover diminished by wars in the 20th century, 455 acres are ancient woodland appearing on the earliest reliable maps dating to the 1600s.

Most of the area of steep ghylls centred on the River Derwent has been planted with conifers but under new plans these would be removed and natural regeneration of native broadleaf trees like oak, ash, willow and birch encouraged, boosting the prospects for wildlife known to be in the area including white-clawed crayfish, otter and kingfisher.