Sherwood Forest
Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire is one of the most famous forests in the world, its name inseparable from the legend of Robin Hood and the tradition of the outlaw who robbed the rich to give to the poor that has generated stories, ballads, plays and films continuously from the medieval period to the present day. The forest once covered a vast area of central Nottinghamshire and its oaks supplied timber for shipbuilding and charcoal for the ironworking industries of the region across many centuries, but the current area designated as country park and nature reserve represents only a fraction of the medieval forest and concentrates around the ancient oak trees that are the most significant surviving feature.
The ancient oaks of Sherwood Forest are among the oldest and most ecologically important veteran trees in Britain. The Major Oak, the most celebrated individual tree in the forest, is estimated to be between 800 and 1000 years old and has a girth of approximately ten metres, its enormous crown supported by a system of cables and props that have maintained its structural integrity for over a century of conservation management. The tree is traditionally associated with Robin Hood as the hollow in which he and his merry men sheltered, a legend that the tree's age makes chronologically plausible even if historically unverifiable.
The veteran oak population of the forest, including hundreds of ancient trees of great age, supports a community of invertebrates, fungi, mosses and birds associated with ancient wood pasture that is of international conservation importance. The saproxylic beetles and other deadwood invertebrates living in the decaying heartwood of these ancient trees include species found in very few other locations in Britain and represent one of the most significant concentrations of ancient woodland biodiversity in England.
The visitor centre at the Sherwood Forest Country Park provides interpretation of the Robin Hood legend and the ecology of the forest.