Save Wildlife Wood!

Please help save the Wildlife Wood!
 
For decades, this natural wood has been untouched by humans and been a safe home to beautiful and endangered wildlife in Denbighshire, North Wales, but now it is being broken up into parcels of land and sold off - potentially to be cut down, to be used for private leisure activities (such as camping and forestry pursuits) - to be another habitat irretrievably changed and lost to our wildlife!

We are all living in the time of Covid-19, and one thing so many of us have learned, is the real value, and the healing power of the natural world around us. Nature has given us so much, surely we should protect it in return? We have so little time - the woodland will go to sale before the end of February, and is expected to sell almost immediately – please help us retain it for nature!

We propose to buy the forest, to protect it from any encroachment, alteration, or destruction; from any loss of habitat, and ultimately we hope to donate it the North Wales Wildlife Trust so that even when we are all gone, this wonderful wood and wildlife here will be protected and taken care of by this amazing charity.
 
This Wildlife Wood is teeming with life: Oak, giant Beech trees, Birch, Willow, among others, as well as a rich wet and boggy woodland floor  - one of the few remaining such habitats around. The wood is FULL of birds such Tawny Owls, Woodcock, Long Tailed Tits, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, and Great Spotted Woodpecker to name but a few, not to mention animals such as the iconic Hedgehog!


The majestic and mysterious Tawny Owls who live in this wood live out their lives on this territory – losing it means having to fight, and possibly not surviving the search, for a new one. Tawny’s are already Amber listed in conservation status, we cannot keep cutting down their homes!


The shy and beautiful Woodcock, who live in the wood all year, as well as having cousins migrate yearly from abroad, have declined in Britain so badly due to habitat loss like this, that they are now Red Listed in their conservation status here! They spend their days in the wood’s undergrowth - losing this wood means no chance of breeding here, no place to live, and with habitat dwindling at an alarming rate, there really is no where else to go....
 
…. And we haven’t even mentioned the prickly, charismatic star of British wildlife, the Hedgehog – sadly internationally Red listed and at risk of extinction. These poor animals have declined so rapidly due to human interference and habitat loss that most people aren’t even lucky enough to see one anymore, even in the wilds of Wales! Hedgehogs use the undergrowth to snuffle out food that this wood provides, as well as using the drier areas for shelter in the day.


Because the woodland is also damp and boggy in part, it is a perfect habitat for Woodcock and amphibians, but also damp loving moss and lichen – did you know that Wales has the highest diversity of lichen species in the whole world?! The moss and lichen in this wildlife wood are critical for the lives of it’s resident birds, especially the flitting fairy like Long Tailed Tit, who use moss and lichen for their nest material, as well as foraging for insects as food. These lovely birds have lost so much of their food source in this area alone, are we to watch yet more of it disappear?



 
Birds and animals are loosing their homes at a frightening rate, biodiversity is at an all time low globally – what the natural world loses, we lose too! We cannot stand by and watch yet another habitat be permanently reduced, we have the chance to protect this wildlife wood now, and for generations to come – think how many future generations of owl, woodcock, hedgehog (not to mention everything else living there!) can continue and live out their lives in safety if we act?


Our proposal is to buy the wood, to protect it against any loss of habitat, and ultimately we hope to donate it the North Wales Wildlife Trust so that even when we are all gone, this wonderful wood and wildlife here will be protected and taken care of by this amazing charity.
 
But time is incredibly short, and we have been told that the wood will go to sale very shortly, and not to expect it to be available long.
 
Please, please help us to raise enough funds to purchase this Wildlife Wood and save it’s residents! Please help us turn this wood into a real, protected nature reserve forever!


*Images by Sarah, by Tony Pope; all used with permission/licence.