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United Kingdom United Kingdom forest

The National Forest

Dan Papworth · CC BY-SA 4.0

43% trees around it and 1,210 species recorded.

  • trees within 3 km43%
  • wild within 10 km56%
  • species recorded1,210
  • Altitude94 m

The forest around

43% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 57%Grassland 28%Water 0%Bare ground 0%Cropland 1%Built-up 13%Trees 41%Grassland 29%Water 2%Bare ground 0%Cropland 16%Built-up 12%Trees 25%Grassland 29%Water 0%Bare ground 0%Cropland 31%Built-up 14%Trees 23%Grassland 31%Water 1%Bare ground 0%Cropland 40%Built-up 6%43%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km57%
  • 1–3 km41%
  • 3–6 km25%
  • 6–10 km23%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees41%
  • Grassland29%
  • Water2%
  • Bare ground0%
  • Cropland16%
  • Built-up12%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

1,210 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Common Hawthorn
Common HawthornCrataegus monogyna304 recordsUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ribwort plantain
Ribwort plantainPlantago lanceolata266 recordssannse · CC BY-SA 3.0
AshNT
AshFraxinus excelsior246 recordsWillow · CC BY 2.5
Pedunculate Oak
Pedunculate OakQuercus robur245 recordsAlgirdas at Lithuanian Wikipedia · Public domain
Great Willowherb
Great WillowherbEpilobium hirsutum243 recordsJeffdelonge at French Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Creeping Thistle
Creeping ThistleCirsium arvense242 recordsAnRo0002 · CC0
Lawn-daisy
Lawn-daisyBellis perennis238 recordsm.dolores paderne sa… · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hogweed
HogweedHeracleum sphondylium232 recordsUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Stickywilly
StickywillyGalium aparine230 recordsAlvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 3.0
Red Clover
Red CloverTrifolium pratense227 recordsIvar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
Herb-robert
Herb-robertGeranium robertianum225 recordsEpgrande · CC BY 4.0
White Clover
White CloverTrifolium repens225 recordsEpgrande · CC BY 4.0

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

52out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 43%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 56%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 1,210Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 94 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in June and in September.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan6°1°63 mm
  2. Feb7°1°52 mm
  3. Mar10°2°51 mm
  4. Apr13°4°46 mm
  5. May16°7°60 mm
  6. Jun19°10°66 mm
  7. Jul21°12°72 mm
  8. Aug21°12°73 mm
  9. Sep18°9°51 mm
  10. Oct14°7°76 mm
  11. Nov9°4°70 mm
  12. Dec6°2°68 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

The National Forest.

Environmental project in central England

The National Forest is a forest in United Kingdom.

Seen from space, 43% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 56% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

1,210 species have been recorded around it: 783 plants, 242 fungi, 163 birds and 22 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Common Hawthorn, Ribwort plantain and Ash.

The best time to walk is in June and in September.

National Forest Sign, Midlands, UK
Dan Papworth · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

The National Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 4marked trails within 5 kmIvanhoe Way, National Forest Way, Coton in the Elms Circular Walk and 1 more
  • 3named and notable trees within 6 km
  • 26picnic sites within 4 km
  • 11shelters and huts within 6 km
  • 2viewpoints within 5 kmCadley Memorial Winding Wheel
  • 2visitor centres within 6 kmVisitor Information Centre, Ashby de la Zouch Tourist Information
  • 105car parks within 3 km
  • 10campsites within 10 kmConkers C & C C, Willesley Campsite, Beehive Farm Caravan & Camping Site and 7 more
  • 33places to stay within 10 kmYHA National Forest, Bluebell, Serenity and 30 more
  • 15restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around The National Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas4 mountains within 25 km
Bardon Hill278 m · 15 kmAmbion Hill18 kmBeacon Hill248 m · 20 kmOld John22 km
Lakeyas3 lakes within 15 km
Foremark Reservoir0.8 km² · 8.3 kmStaunton Harold Reservoir0.7 km² · 10 kmBlackbrook Reservoir0.2 km² · 15 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Other forests nearby.

The National Forest

United Kingdom

  • 52Forestyas Score
  • 43%Trees
  • 56%Wild
  • 1,210Species

Cannock Chase

United Kingdom · 31 km

  • 69Forestyas Score
  • 69%Trees
  • 68%Wild
  • 1,108Species

See the guide

Wyre Forest

United Kingdom · 68 km

  • 75Forestyas Score
  • 73%Trees
  • 75%Wild
  • 1,920Species

See the guide

Charnwood Forest

United Kingdom · 20 km

  • 56Forestyas Score
  • 43%Trees
  • 63%Wild
  • 1,692Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q6972763) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species56,779 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Lakeyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.