THE Forestry Commission has run out of Christmas trees across the whole of the New Forest because of an increased demand this year.

The Forestry Commission is putting this down to families beginning to understand the environmental message and deciding to buy an ecologically friendly tree from a sustainable source.

“We sourced the same number of trees as usual to sell from our two sites at Moors Valley Country Park and New Park in Brockenhurst,” said Forestry Commission head ranger, Andrew Norris. “So we know that we have had a real increase in demand.

“Some of this may have been generated by the earlier stories in the press about Christmas tree shortages this year but we are hoping that it is also due to an increasing awareness of environmental issues.”