Silver win for Forest of Marston Vale at prestigious awards

The awards were announced at a prestigious ceremony yesterday (October 15) held to celebrate the leading lights in woodland management, forestry education and learning. Rotating annually around five regions, the 2026 Awards were for entrants from London and Southeast England. The Trust won silver in The Duke of Cornwall’s Award for Resilient Multi-Purpose Forestry. The purpose of the award is to recognise woodlands that are “managed for ecological and economic resilience to threats such as pests, diseases and climate change in order to meet commercial, environmental and social objectives”.

The award acknowledges the hard work and expertise that has been applied to breathe life back into Reynolds & Holcot Woods which had suffered from years without active management when the Trust began a 10-year journey to restore them in 2023.

Since then work undertaken is already showing positive results with an increase in mammal activity with five bat species identified, including the rare woodland barbastelle bat, a diverse range of pond species and waterbirds, as well as a diversity of flora.

Luke Quenby, Community Forester for the Forest of Marston Vale Trust, said: “There was a huge amount of hard work, resource and faith shown to get this project off the ground. Having such a multi-faceted site (ancient woodland, younger hardwood plantation and pasture with high public access) added to the challenge, which makes getting recognition even nicer.”