FUNDRAISING for an ambitious countryside project in the heart of East Anglia is just £4,000 from completion. Conservation charity the Woodland Trust was gifted 500 acres of land surrounding the village of Fordham, near Colchester, and is aiming to create an enormous wildlife haven.

FUNDRAISING for an ambitious countryside project in the heart of East Anglia is just £4,000 from completion.

Conservation charity the Woodland Trust was gifted 500 acres of land surrounding the village of Fordham, near Colchester, and is aiming to create an enormous wildlife haven.

Hundreds of people of all ages have been involved with the process of planting 250,000 trees in a bid to help restore as much of the natural environment of the past as possible.

The trust said the public's fundraising target of £75,000 in the £2.1 million project had almost been hit.

At the woodland yesterday saplings of oak, ash and hazel, planted in the Spring, had grown well and the wetland area near to the River Colne had become more established.

Christine Punter, the regional development manager for the charity, said the wood's development had progressed at an amazing rate since the project launch last September.

She said: "It is going really well and we now have the car park planning process complete, so that will be started in September and then we will be able to fully open to the public.

"There has also been a lot of interest from people wanting to join Friends of Fordham Wood, which is really nice to see."

The trust also revealed that in the past month alone fundraising for EADT-backed project led to an anonymous donation of £10,000 as well as a couple who gifted more than £2,000 to celebrate their wedding.

The Forest for the Future will be open to all, with new paths, signs and seats and special family days.

Barn owls, otters, water voles, badgers and skylarks are just a handful of species which could flourish at Fordham.

There is currently less than 6% woodland cover in Essex and schemes such as the Forest of the Future have been designed to help reverse the declining level of trees in the countryside.