Tearing a slice out of the countryside from London to the north of the country is the M1, England’s busiest motorway.  Two miles as the crow flies from this part of the M1 in the midlands, is my home.   Hardly the wilderness, one might think but this is where the National Forest is located and in this recently created forest, there are some fantastic wildlife areas.

The National Forest comprises a huge landscape where a juxtaposition of desecrated land from mineral workings, mining and disappeared industries borders ancient forests such as Charnwood and Needwood.

The cities of Derby, Leicester, Stoke and Nottingham all lie close to the National Forest. These cities also have great football clubs, but if its wildlife you want on a Saturday afternoon the new National Forest will provide that too.

Woodlands are places where you can most easily get lost, not just physically but emotionally as well.  Trees and leaves absorb sound, that s why many species of birds join together to sing their ‘dawn chorus’.   So, busy and crowded as England may appear to be, wild places are to be found and the National Forest is one of them.