The National Trust has planted its first 60,000 trees, despite the coronavirus pandemic, as part of its commitment made last January to plant and establish 20 million trees across England, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2030 to help tackle climate change and to create new homes for nature.
Other areas will be set aside for natural regeneration with fenced areas to limit grazing by livestock.
With a focus on planting the right trees in the right places and minimising any release of carbon through soil disturbance, the conservation charity has been busy planting trees over the last few months – with several projects underway in Wales, the south-west, south-east, north of England and Northern Ireland.
The rate of planting is due to accelerate after an initial planning phase – and the conservation charity has identified sites for a further 1.5 million trees to be planted over the next couple of years.
John Deakin, head of woodland and trees at the National Trust said: “The first two years of our 10-year plan was always going to be about doing the research and scoping out the right places to plant and establish trees – to try to ensure we maximise in balance the benefit to nature, regenerate landscapes or creating new woodlands near urban areas.
“Taking this time to plan means ensuring we avoid areas where trees might damage important existing habitat, or actually release carbon from certain soil types, like peat.
“Similarly, we need to ensure important historic views and parklands are maintained appropriately. We’re also considering where trees could provide the biggest benefit for nature, climate and people – for instance by expanding and linking existing woodland, or by identifying locations near towns and cities where many people will be able to enjoy them.
“There are many stages to this work, starting with computer modelling, mapping and then getting out to actually walk the sites so we can ‘ground truth’ the data – there really is no substitute for actually getting out on the ground to understand the lay of the land.”
The tree planting projects which have been able to get underway are thanks to financial support from key partners including Cotswold Outdoor, Great Western Community Forest, Manchester City of Trees and People’s Postcode Lottery, and £70,000[1] raised through the charity’s plant a tree appeal.
Mr Deakin added: “We are extremely grateful to the donations from individuals and partners that we’ve received to date. It’s clear that people have a big connection and love for trees and these funds have been vitally important to kickstart our efforts and we’ll be able to create new woods that benefit more people.”
Buscot & Coleshill in West Oxfordshire
At the National Trust’s 3,046 hectare Buscot & Coleshill Estate in Oxfordshire, the team have just kicked off a major tree-planting project, planting 1,100 trees over the last two weeks.
These first trees were funded by the Great Western Community Forest under the Trees for Climate Fund and is part of a much larger 131 hectare, 10-year project to restore the Coleshill Parkland.
There are plans for a total of 38,000[1] trees to be planted on the historic estate over the next three years to create woodland and wood pasture. The aim of the planting is to help reduce flooding, capture carbon and replace some of the trees lost through disease over the last 40 years.
The majority of the 11.5 hectares (28 acres site) has been planted with oak trees, with some hornbeam, to recreate an area of wood pasture in accordance with historic maps from the 19th Century. Wood pasture consists of widely spaced trees with grassland grazed by livestock. The mix of old trees, deadwood and grassland provide habitats for insects, fungi, birds and bats.
1,100 of 2,500 trees have been planted alongside the River Cole with the aim of creating wet woodland habitat. Wet woodland habitat is the least common type of woodland. Willow, alder and oak have been planted to help slow floodwater down and clean up the water by reducing the levels of silt entering the river.
Richard Watson, Countryside Manager at the Buscot & Coleshill Estate said: “The trees we are planting alongside the river are those which, over time, might naturally occur but we are giving nature a helping hand to speed up the process. Willow trees support more insects than any other, except for oaks, so this planting will provide a real boost for wildlife.
“The trees at both sites will attract many insects – bees, butterflies and eventually beetles. Once established the trees will provide additional nesting sites for birds and be an additional food source. And, in a good few years, when the willow starts to naturally collapse, it could provide the ideal habitat for otter holts.”
The team will also plant 5.6km of hedges over the next three years to help create woodland corridors for wildlife linking existing woods and to increase the amount of scrub habitat on the estate.
Jonathan Wilshaw community Forest Officer, Swindon Borough Council, said, “The tree planting at Buscot and Coleshill Estate is one of our first major projects under the Trees for Climate programme and it is wonderful to see so many trees being planted in such a beautiful setting.
“We have the ambition to plant 350 hectares of trees over the next few years and tree planting schemes such as this will be really important in helping us to reach our target of 30 per cent tree cover across the Great Western Community Forest area.”
