Dunwich Forest is an area of forest and

lowland heath Lowland heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below ...

around north-west of the village of

Dunwich Dunwich () is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. The forest covers an area of approximately and was originally planted by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respons ...

. The forest is within the

Suffolk Coast and Heaths The Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Suffolk and Essex, England. The AONB covers ancient woodland, commercial forestry, the estuaries of the Alde, Blyth, Deben, Orwell and Stour ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

and is in the area known as the Suffolk Sandlings. South of the reserve is the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

property of

Dunwich Heath Dunwich Heath is an area of coastal lowland heath just south of the village of Dunwich, in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB, England. It is adjacent to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere. It lies within the area of the Minsmere-Walberswick Heaths a ...

, one of the largest remaining areas of lowland heath on the Suffolk coast, and the RSPB reserve at

Minsmere Minsmere is a place in the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast around north of Leiston and south-east of Westleton within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB. It is the site of the Minsmere RSPB reserve and the orig ...

. To the north and east of the forest are Dingle Marshes, part of the

Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve Suffolk Coast National Nature Reserve is a wildlife reserve on the North Sea coast of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around the village of Walberswick to the south of the town of Southwold. The reserve was designated in 2003, combi ...

. The Forestry Commission (now Forestry England) purchased land from the Dunwich and

Westleton Westleton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Suffolk. It is located north of Leiston and north-east of Saxmundham near the North Sea coast. The village is on the edge of the Suffolk Sandli ...

estates during the 1920s. Following the acquisition of this land, they began an

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...

programme to develop a conifer plantation, which became Dunwich Forest. The forest is now a mix of broadleaved and coniferous woodland with some areas of more open heath.Explore Dunwich Forest
Forestry England. Retrieved 2014-02-24. In 2006 Forestry England began work on a rewilding programme at Dunwich. Working with the

Suffolk Wildlife Trust Suffolk Wildlife Trust (SWT) describes itself as the county's "nature charity – the only organisation dedicated wholly to safeguarding Suffolk's wildlife and countryside." It is a registered charity, and its headquarters is at Brooke House i ...

and the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

, they plan to gradually replace conifers in the northern area of the forest with

broad-leaved tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with n ...

s and to convert areas in the south of the forest to lowland heath, one of the rarest British habitats.Dartmoor ponies to graze woodland
BBC news website, 2008-12-05. Retrieved 2014-02-24. Suffolk Wildlife Trust has introduced

Dartmoor ponies Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

to the northern area which it manages as a reserve in size.Dunwich Forest
, Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 2014-02-24.

References

{{Suffolk Wildlife Trust Suffolk Wildlife Trust Dunwich