Tree-mendous opportunity: Charity launches bid to buy 400-year-old woodland

• Watch Liz Summers' report on the bid to buy Astonbury Wood

The Wildlife Trust has launched an urgent appeal to raise £100,000 to save a patch of ancient woodland that has gone on sale in Hertfordshire. 

Astonbury Wood, which is close to the A602 near Stevenage, dates back to the seventeenth century and is home to a wide variety of animals, plants and fungi.

The charity only has a couple of months to buy the site and protect its future

Hertfordshire County Council put the 54 acre site up for sale last year and now Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust is hoping to buy it. Matt Clark from The Trust says it's vital that the area is preserved:

So far it's raised £35,000. The group has until the end of July to hit the £104,000 target.

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