The RFS are hosting a free Barriers to Woodland Management Workshop in Canterbury on Thursday 17th Nov, to help increase understanding of the issues facing good woodland management in Kent and find ways to overcome them. Booking info here.

The Forestry Commission and Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service are hosting a free woodland creation workshop on Tuesday 15th Nov at South Elkington village hall, covering woodland creation opportunities, woodland management and grants, carbon credits, specialist timber & more. Sign up details here.

Ahead of National Tree Week at the end of November, the Tree Council have published a comprehensive Tree and Hedge Planting step-by-step guide – download it here.

Forestry England have a new video about one of the longest-running wild land restoration projects in the UK, at Ennerdale in the Lake District. Natural processes shape its landscape and ecology, supporting nature recovery on a landscape scale.

A new case study published by the Forestry Commission describes the creation of 9.4 acres of woodland on a site previously overrun with invasive rhododendron on a farm within Exmoor National Park. In a blog, Kate Tobin talks about the importance of woodlands as nature networks, and a recently published Woods for Nature fact sheet explains the benefits of woodland creation for biodiversity.

PTES and Kent Wildlife Trust are assessing the feasibility of releasing pine marten in the southeast of England. In England and Wales the species is classified as critically endangered, but successful reintroductions have been made in Wales and the Forest of Dean.

Marvellous Moths: Butterfly Conservation are currently celebrating and promoting the wonderful world of moths with their #MothsMatter campaign; listen to expert discussion in Moths: The Story of the Butterfly of the Night, a recent BBC World Service programme; and a tiny moth has been re-discovered in the Scottish Borders, 42 years after the previous sighting.

The RFS are one of nine partners involved in a new project at Rockingham Forest in Northamptonshire, aiming to link people to the habitats and wildlife of the area. The project will provide educational opportunities including woodland skills workshops and encourage better habitat management.

This month the FSC have a guest blog from Lizzie Harper, a freelance natural history and botanical illustrator, about the courses she has attended and how they have benefitted her work through an increased understanding of the form and function of her subjects, including ants, grasses and slugs!