Highchurch Farm

We had a good number of volunteers signed up for this event, but as is often the case, not all of them turned up on the day. With Duncan leading the way they were able to carry out work on about a 1/4 to 1/3 of the site, focusing mostly on the new trees planted in the restock in February 26, clearing competing grass, docks, etc. from around them and putting on spiral guards where needed.

The recently planted saplings are doing pretty well. Where there is loss, it's mostly on the clay, south-facing ground, which heats up in summer and fractures. Adding some soil or compost into the cracks to fill them would help a lot.

Once we were happy the volunteers knew what they were doing (they were great) Duncan and the landowner did a stint each on the brush cutters, clearing back the heavy areas of docks that were swamping some of the smaller trees. There's a lot of new wildflower diversity in the field - thistles, buttercups, vetch and so on coming up between the grass.

The landowner now has two beehives at the top of the site and there are lots more insects on the site now - it’s teeming with grasshoppers, loads of different species of butterfly, ladybirds, and lots of birds: kestrels, yellowhammers, swallows, wrens. The whole site seems to be becoming much more biodiverse. Someone saw a hare on site as well. No sign of deer browsing and no significant sign of any browsing damage to the trees. We saw some evidence of caterpillar eggs on some of the trees, which is great, but no sign of any mass aphid infestations, caterpillars, or pest damage of any kind .

The trees that we planted in 2022 and survived the summer heatwaves are properly established now so we started taking out the canes and removing the spiral guards from any that were clearly mature and strong. The poplars are doing incredibly well. The wild cherry are really happy with some fruiting already. The birch is really establishing itself. The oak is doing quite nicely, but taking their time. The hawthorns are looking brilliant too. In the bottom corner, the alder is absolutely thriving - some heavily fruiting. Overall, this site is doing really well.

What a perfect day! Morale was buzzing during this restocking day. Restocking 600 trees, pulling grass out of guards, and replacing broken stakes were made light work by this energetic group of volunteers. During a week of inclement weather, we were worried this day was going to be a washout, but the clouds parted to give us perfect planting weather! Special thanks to the landowner and the local newspaper photographer for their support on the day.

We had 16 volunteers arrive throughout the morning, which was fantastic. We were also joined by the landowner, his daughter, and his farmhand.

We carried out a significant amount of strimming around the trees, and once the volunteers arrived, we focused on maintaining the existing trees and replacing any that had died. Work continued until around 3pm, when heavy rain set in. At that point, we quickly planted the remaining trees and packed up. Everything was cleared away and everyone headed home.

We covered approximately a quarter to a third of the field with the volunteers we had. Progress was relatively slow due to the work involved in clearing competing vegetation, applying mulch, and replacing guards.

In future, it could be beneficial to return and continue the work, perhaps alongside future planting sessions. That said, the landowner was very pleased with the progress made.

Overall, the day went well and we made solid progress. It was a shame the volunteers were not able to arrive earlier, as we could likely have achieved more. However, their contribution was greatly appreciated.

In terms of tree survival, the survival rate was 75%.

Encouragingly, the poplars are thriving. The oaks, while still small, are looking healthy, and the hawthorn and downy birch are also doing well. Considering the weather conditions and the heavy clay soil, which is prone to cracking and breaking, the site is looking positive overall.

A dedicated team of 15 volunteers came together for a summer work session. Despite the heat and extremely dry, cracked ground, the group made steady progress with weed management, strimming around young trees, replacing lost saplings, and adding mulch and guards. The rain arrived late in the afternoon, bringing the day to a close after a productive few hours of maintenance.

The landowner reports that the site is doing well overall, with an estimated 75% tree survival rate. Poplars, oaks, hawthorn, and downy birch are all thriving, despite the challenging clay soil and intense weather conditions. The team plans to return later in the year to continue planting and maintenance work to support the young woodland’s resilience.

We recently returned to the site to plant 200 small-leaved lime trees that were missing from the original planting, and to replace around 2,000 saplings that did not survive the exceptionally intense summer heatwave and subsequent drought.

The drought had a severe impact on the heavy clay soil, leaving it deeply cracked, with saplings dangling in the gaps.

To give the new saplings the best possible start, we also used mycorrhizal root dips to promote stronger root growth and help the trees access water more effectively, helping to increase their resilience to future heatwaves.

Easily Protect Earth’s biggest project so far, Highchurch Farm was an amazing effort. We hired in some students and locals out of work, and had our usual amazing turnout of volunteers. Here’s a look at day one of planting, where we were joined by 17 heroic volunteers with the task of planting 4,000 trees. The species breakdown is: oak, hornbeam, wild cherry, goat willow, common alder, rowan, wild service, silver birch, small-leaved lime, aspen, hazel and field maple.

When families get involved with our volunteer days, as we saw at this one, it is an amazing opportunity to spend time together, focused, away from screens, working with purpose. It is inspiring to facilitate this engagement with climate action at an early age, in addition to all the opportunities for hands-on learning and work experience; their energy and enthusiasm can be fully expressed here.