Celebrate National Tree Week

To celebrate National Tree Week taking place from 28 November – 6 December 2015, conservation charity World Land Trust has launched a new Kites Hill Guide, encouraging locals to visit and enjoy this ancient beech woodland.

Established in 1975 and now in its 40^th year, National Tree Week is one of the UK’s largest annual tree celebrations marking the launch of the winter tree planting season and World Land Trust is therefore hoping to highlight the importance and beauty of the UK’s woodlands through the new Kites Hill Guide.

Covering 40 acres of Cotswold countryside, Kites Hill was gifted to World Land Trust as a living legacy by its owner, Jane Pointer, who wanted to see it managed and protected as a nature reserve during her lifetime. The reserve is today owned by World Land Trust and managed in partnership with the Gloucestershire branch of The Conservation Volunteers and provides visitors with free access all year round.

The new Kites Hill Guide outlines a trail through the reserve, illustrating the different habitats that visitors will find there including the pond, beech woodland and meadows. The leaflet has been designed to complement four noticeboards on display at different points around the reserve providing information about the various habitats and inviting visitors to look for tracks and signs of wildlife.

Kites Hill is part of the Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods Site of Special Scientific Interest and is recognised to be of European importance as a Special Area of Conservation. In order to maintain the natural habitats and increase biodiversity, World Land Trust has also provided breeding sites throughout Kites Hill for species of butterflies, bats and owls that had previously disappeared from the area, while a wildlife pond, created in 2009, attracts invertebrates and other pond life.

For more information on World Land Trust, visit www.worldlandtrust.org.