Growing the nation's forests
We're planning to create a new 102-hectare woodland near the village of Hagworthingham, on the edge of the scenic Lincolnshire Wolds National Landscape.
Hagworthingham Wood will provide lasting benefits for local people, wildlife, and the climate. It will be planted with a mix of different tree and shrub species to create diverse habitats for wildlife, supporting hedgehogs, bats, woodland birds like woodpeckers, and a wide variety of butterflies and other insects. As the trees mature, they will absorb carbon from the atmosphere, helping to mitigate against the climate crisis. In about 20 years, once the woodland is well established, it will also begin to contribute to the UK's sustainable timber industry.
This is one of many new woodlands we're creating at Forestry England to help grow the nation's forests. The work has been made possible thanks to the government's Trees Programme.
Work in progress...
At the moment, we're still developing our plans for Hagworthingham Wood. We recently hosted a public consultation, where we invited local people and businesses to share their thoughts and ideas with us. We'd like to thank everyone who got involved in this process and who attended our local drop-in event, as your feedback will help us shape the final designs for the new woodland.
Right now, we're working through the comments from the public consultation, and we'll be sharing our final designs later this year. Subject to the approval of our final design plans, we hope to begin planting the first trees at this new woodland in winter 2026/27.
New woodlands across Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is currently the least wooded county in the East Midlands, with woodland covering just 4% of land area. This is far below the national average of 14%. We're working hard to increase woodland cover across Lincolnshire, and Hagworthingham Wood is the fifth woodland creation site we've bought in this area since 2024. The other new woodlands are Cadney, North Carlton, Mickleholme and Newball. Together, this means we're creating a total of 965 hectares of new woodland in Lincolnshire.
We're in the early stages of creating our design for the new woodland. Public feedback and surveys will inform our detailed plans for it. Our aim is to create the new woodland over the next couple of years with initial planting beginning in winter 2026/27.
Species we're planning to plant at Hagworthingham Wood may include oak, silver birch, small leaved lime, goat willow, black poplar, hazel, common alder, beech, Scots pine, Corsican pine, hornbeam and wild cherry. We will be planting a mix of broadleaf and conifer trees, often planted together in mixtures, with groups of native shrubs along woodland edges to increase the variety of habitats and provide seasonal colour and texture. This list of potential species is based on thorough surveys of the land, Forestry England's decades of woodland management experience, and the latest climate science, which helps us choose species most suitable for the site now and as the climate changes.
Yes! Once the new woodland has established (ensuring the trees have their best possible start), we will be dedicating the site under the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act. It is intended to be a quiet, natural space primarily for the local community to enjoy and spend time in nature, which is why we have no current plans to create a car park or any visitor infrastructure, including any surfaced trails or horse-riding specific infrastructure.
The new woodland can be easily reached from the village of Hagworthingham using the existing public footpath from Harrington Road to the north of the site. Once there, a network of new grass routes will give access for woodland maintenance and for people to explore the new woodland.
