OVER £400,000 has been raised by the Woodland Trust's public appeal to extend Pepper Wood - nearly a third of the total £1.5 million that is needed.
The Woodland Trust launched their fundraising campaign in December 2020, bidding to double the size of the beauty spot in Fairfield.
The charity is looking to buy up to 125 acres of farmland next to the 133 acre Pepper Wood, which it already owns, to extend a large patch of woodland and create new habitats for wildlife.
Paul Jarczewski, site manager for Central England at the Woodland Trust said, "The public appeal to purchase and manage the extension to Pepper Wood has so far raised over £400,000 and, when combined with income from other sources, we remain hopeful that we will raise the money needed."
The trust is hoping to start creating new areas of woodland in the 2022-23 planting season and is looking to complete planting by the end of 2025.
More than 35,000 new trees may be planted as part of the appeal– creating a continuous 250 acre patch of woodland.
Toby Bancroft, the Woodland Trust’s regional director for Central England said: “Pepper Wood is a beautiful habitat that is treasured by visitors.
"Centuries ago the woodland used to stretch across the arable land that is there today.
"By looking to extend this site we would be returning this to woodland as it once was."
The appeal is part of the Woodland Trust’s launch of its Big Climate Fightback where it is urging the public to buy and plant trees.
It has also announced its ambitious aim to plant 50 million more trees by 2025 which would be a fifth of what the Government’s Committee for Climate Change recommended the UK needs to help tackle climate change.
Mr Bancroft added: “We are in a climate and nature crisis and planting more trees is the natural solution.
“We believe that buffering and protecting our valuable ancient woodlands, which represent just 2.5% of land in use left in the UK, is a really good place for some of the extra trees we so desperately need.
"We urge the public to help us purchase this land and in doing so help us towards our aim to plant 50 million more trees over the next five years!”
Bought by the trust in the early 1980s, the wood forms part of the Feckenham Forest Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which is considered nationally important for its oak-dominated woodland, unimproved meadows and bird and invertebrate communities.
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