Shillingford

Some sites require more help than others, and the landowners here were doing such a good job we’ve not had to get too involved. Still, despite their brilliant work, climate conditions have finished off enough saplings that we sent over another 300, mainly in their hedgerow. The tree survival rate was around 75% at last survey which is lower than we’d like, so we are helping the landowners get that up too.

Phil assessed the site when he dropped off spare canes and spirals and decided that some weeding and mulching needs to be done, which we will assist the landowner to organise over the summer. She is pleased with progress so far.

The Trees are utterly glorious - 75% survival rate, and they are really thriving. Although the hedgerow hasn't been quite so successful, with more like a 60% survival rate, as it's much more exposed.

The landowner spent a lot of time during the autumn and winter, propping things up after strong winds and gales, but that's a labour of love. It's on a very small Devon bank. We are at the bottom of a valley.

There’s some bramble encroachment, but the briar roses and dog roses seem to be doing okay; the smaller whips, like blackthorn, aren't doing so well. The bottom, near where the woodland is absolutely fine, it's just the middle bit.

It is not uncommon, even in daylight, to see hedgehogs down there. There's also a small wildlife pond in that woodland. In the last three weeks, we've seen three newts. There's always damselflies and dragonflies down there, swallows sitting on the fence and house martens ready for a snack. There is a huge variety of grasses within the woodland, which we cut back in the autumn. There were some wild orchids in there this year. There was blue chicory last year and butterflies are always butterflies down there at this time of year. A haven for wildlife!

This farm already has sections of ancient woodland thriving, so our goal was to link these up and expand the habitat.

Accompanied by local volunteers we visited Shillingford on a sunny but cold weekend in January and and met some very friendly pigs! The previous day we had planted a small woodland so today we planted 600 trees and shrubs, 5 plants per metre, planted in a staggered double row, to form a hedgerow roughly 150m long. Species planted were Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel, Guelder Rose, Dog Rose and Alder Buckthorn, which will grow into a fantastic wildlife corridor in years to come.

On this farm we planned for a small woodland and hedgerow. The woodland consisted of 379 trees in a 0.25 hectare so trees needed to be planted a little closer than we normally would. With the help of local volunteers we planted belts of the same species with random spacing for a more natural look, then planted some shrubs in tight groups of the same species.

We were lucky to get dry weather for this planting, but the ground was very wet underfoot. The tree roots with help to suck up some of this excess moisture which will improve the soil for farming.