More than 20,000 tree plantings and a new woodland the size of five football pitches are part of a major nature recovery drive.

Among the tree planting efforts will be more than 400 new disease-resistant elms, returning the iconic English elm to the South Downs landscape after it was decimated by disease.

Throughout National Tree Week, scores of trees are going into the ground at 20 new sites across Sussex and Hampshire.

The 20,294 trees being planted this winter bring the Trees for The Downs initiative ever closer to smashing its target of planting 100,000 trees by the middle of the decade. The total is currently almost 75,000 and the National Park hopes to reach the target as it marks its 15th birthday next year.

Up to 4,500 trees are also being planted over two years in the Hampshire Hangers, which run between Farnham and Petersfield, as part of landscape enhancements led by National Grid.

Nick Heasman, a countryside and policy manager for the National Park, said: “Trees provide clean air for us to breathe, enrich our soils, provide a vital habitat for wildlife and, crucially, are amazing carbon capturers.

“This tree planting is something we can all be proud of and none of it would have been possible without the support of local communities and businesses who have gone the extra mile to give back to nature, I’d like to say a massive ‘thank you’.”

Local planting sites include Old Litten Lane, Froxfield and Selborne Landscape Partnership - Hampshire Hangars.