Unsung Heroes: The Volunteers of the National Forest - a poem by Alexander Hunt

Here’s to our unsung heroes, the catalysts of the National Forest’s growth.

The forest champions that brought the green land to life, all part of a communal oath, to relieve the country from infertility and strife.

All thanks to all the National Forest volunteers, who help improve the places they hold dear.

Gratitude to the Heartwood community woodfuel group, to prompting woodland culture and supplying timber, amid the copses and lumber.

Be grateful to all the wildlife monitoring volunteers, who record everything from the rare purple emperor to the invasive muntjac deer.

Come visit Moira Furnace where you’ll find the Moira Furnace Volunteers, who assist in the shops and the museum every year.

Come meet the Burton Conservation volunteers, from Burton upon Trent, who do tasks on the washlands and near the river Trent.

Come visit Rosliston Forestry Centre, home to volunteer ranger, who’ll welcome and educate you, don’t be a stranger.

Get into shape with the volunteer walk leader, protect the geological heritage as a Charnwood Forest Geopark Volunteer.

Grow a green thumb as a volunteer gardener, join a footpath group to install fence and post.

All thanks goes these volunteers, who help improve the places they hold dear, why not become a volunteer yourself.

Join the family and be a part of the National Forest.

Alexander Hunt  was born on the 27th of May 1997 at the town of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, spent half of his childhood in Birmingham and the rest in Swadlincote where he’s currently resides. He was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 4.

Throughout his life, natural history was always his main passion in life, some of his fondest memories as a child was collecting acorns, taking afternoon walks through the countryside with his Dad and even seeing his first stoat.

At a young child, he also enjoyed stories about wildlife and other nature themes, starting with Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are”’ Nick Butterworth’s “Percy the Park Keeper” series and Romain Simon’s “My Little Animal Friends of the Forest”.

As he grow, he shifts to stories like Watership Down, The Animals of Farthing Wood, Tarka the Otter and The Jungle Book. This eventually inspired him to write his own stories.

Alex is currently a volunteer of the National Forest Company, previously doing a voluntary traineeship with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust in the past and helping with wildlife surveys within several groups such butterfly transects with the South Derbyshire District Council to dormouse monitoring.

Alex also aims to make a career out of wildlife conservation and possibly zoology. In present times he’s helping out whenever he can, anything from reptile surveys to basic habitat management.

He also hopes that one day that certain animals like the dormouse, the white stork and the red squirrel would someday return.

Do you have a story or experience you would like to share? From poetry to personal stories, we would love to hear from you and your experiences of nature and the National Forest. Email us at stories@nationalforest.org