England's green and pleasant land is known for its great forests, from Sherwood to the Forest of Dean.

But the future of the country's woodland could be in doubt.

According to new figures, so few trees were planted last year that just three people could have easily done the job.

Forestry Commission figures show that just 582 hectares of trees were planted in 2016 - the lowest number since records began in 1976. By contrast almost 2,700 hectares were planted in 2013/14.

According to industry figures, a professional planter can plant 1,000 trees each day.

This means that three people, working full-time, could have planted the 887,000 trees which were planted over the course of the year.

Figures fell to a new low in the final part of last year, when just 34,000 trees were planted - making it the poorest quarter in six years.

The trend has continued into this year, with just 63,000 trees planted between January and March 2017.

The figures mean that a Government pledge that 12 per cent level of woodland cover should be reached by 2060 is looking increasingly remote. Currently 10 per cent of England is woodland.

Trees would need to be planted at around 10 times the current rate, or around 5,000 hectares a year, for the Government to hit this target.