Sherwood Forest, the area of Nottinghamshire made famous by the tales of Robin Hood, has been designated a national nature reserve.
The honour was bestowed on 202ha of the ancient woodland in recognition of its beautiful landscape and its role in preserving threatened trees, plants and creatures.
Woods have covered the dry,poor soils of Nottinghamshire since the end of the last Iron Age 10,000 years ago.
English Nature, the statutory service responsible for looking after England's wild plants and animals, said it was making Sherwood a national nature reserve, 50 years after the first such award was made in Britain, because the forest's 1000 oaks, some more than 500 years old, supported "an exceptional array" of wildlife.
More than 1000 species of beetle and spider - many of them rare - and more than 200 different fungi have been recorded.
Animals that depend on the forest's old trees include birds such as the great spotted woodpecker, the tawny owl and the redstart, and bat species such as the noctule.
