The Wildwood

When the last ice sheet finally regressed back towards the north pole, the land would have warmed up allowing vegetation to establish. Indeed, The UK was still connected to the rest of Europe and only when the land warmed up significantly did sea levels begin to rise allowing the North Sea to cover land connecting the UK to Europe. Over many hundreds and thousands of years woodland would have dominated the landscape with only the very high mountains being treeless. Wildwood is the name given to this once extensive woodland and as well as many different tree species, the wildwood would have been home to many species of wildlife. Bears, Wolves and Beavers would have been a common feature in these woodlands. The last British Wolf was probably hunted around five hundred years ago.

Imagine for one moment standing at the top of the Watchtree Nature Reserve (itself at the top of a gently rising hill) and looking around you in every direction, for you would have seen nothing but woodland!

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