Highchurch Farm

Seven corporate volunteers from local company Mulberry volunteered with us for a second time. They joined forces with three of our regular volunteers to help us carry out maintenance on another section of trees on this large site. They spread mulch, straightened and repaired stakes and guards, and reported any dead trees. The landowner and our team carried out a little strimming around the saplings which needed it most.

Facilities at Highchurch are excellent. The landowner had tea, coffee and biscuits ready and made sure we had everything we needed.

The Mulberry group were a really lovely, enthusiastic bunch, getting on with it from the outset. We took a lunch break at 1pm and they were eager to get back to it and keen to work through until 4pm. We didn’t quite finish all we intended to but everyone was very thorough and did an excellent job. The Mulberry volunteers took a group photo at the end, clearly enjoyed the day and all said they'd love to come back.

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. We had four volunteers for the whole day and a couple more turned up to help in the afternoon. Despite that, we were able to carry out work on around a quarter of the site, focusing mostly on the new trees planted in the restock in February 2026, clearing competing grass, docks, etc. from around them and putting on spiral guards where needed.

Once we were happy the volunteers knew what they were doing (they were great) our team leader 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 volunteers all said they enjoyed it. The landowner provided tea, coffee, biscuits and water to keep the volunteers going, He had also set out hay bales in the barn, but the team were happy to work on and we stayed down in the field, taking shade under the Land Rover for breaks and drinks. We worked on until about half past three, by which time most people had had enough as it was quite a warm day.

The trees that we planted in 2022 and survived the summer heatwaves are properly established now so while our surveyor was there he took out the canes and removed the spiral guards from any that were clearly mature and strong. The poplars are doing incredibly well and 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.

The more recently planted saplings are doing pretty well too. 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.

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, many different species of butterfly, ladybirds, and lots of birds: kestrels, yellowhammers, swallows, wrens. The whole site seems to be becoming much more biodiverse. A hare was spotted 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 .

On average, this site is doing really well, with at 76% survival rate overall.

What a wonderful day! Morale was buzzing during this restocking event. 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!

We had help from 12 volunteers from Mulberry, who are based about 20 minutes from the farm, plus 5 local volunteers and a larger than usual team of four from Protect Earth. Restocking 600 trees, pulling grass out of guards, and replacing broken stakes were made light work by this energetic group of volunteers.

Mark Adler, Co-Editor of the Mendip Times joined us mid-morning to find out more about Protect Earth and our work at Highchurch Farm. He took some photos and wrote a very complimentary and supportive article for his local paper.

The Protect Earth team arrived early and, with the help of the landowner, carried out a significant amount of strimming around the trees before the volunteers arrived.

We had 16 volunteers arrive throughout the morning, which was fantastic. We were also joined by the landowner, his daughter, and his farmhand. We focused on maintaining the existing trees and replacing any that had died, and 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 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.

Overall, the day went well and we made solid progress. The volunteers were great as always and the Vegan Runners, regular supporters of Protect Earth, had even been for a Parkrun first. Their contribution was greatly appreciated.

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.

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

In terms of tree survival, the survival rate remained at 75% which is very encouraging.

In addition to the recent work party, we are planning to continue maintenance of this large site in September, and also restock a small number of trees. We will top up with more trees once we are further into in the planting season.

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.

When we visited Highchurch Farm this year we were pleased to see that survival rates had stabilised, with only a 3% loss since last year. Most trees were doing well with quite a few well out of their guards.

Grass remains a problem so we will plan for a work part next summer to remove grass from guards, and to repair and replace stakes and guards where needed.

Our site surveyor went to visit this farm hoping that our restocked trees have settled in well as the weather this year had been wetter and cooler. He found that on the whole, both the original trees and the more recently restocked trees were doing fairly well with an overall survival rate of 78%, just below our guaranteed 80%.

The problems on this site is the heavy clay soil which tends to crack when very dry, and also the vigorously growing grass in some areas which competes with the trees for space and nutrients.

Most of the surviving trees are doing well with healthy green leaves and steady growth.

We returned to this farm to replace around 2,000 saplings that did not survive the exceptionally intense summer heatwave and subsequent drought this summer plus 200 small-leaved limes which were unobtainable last winter. The drought had a severe impact on the heavy clay soil, leaving it deeply cracked, with saplings dangling in the gaps. The ones that did survive was probably thanks for us returning to the farm in August with a water bowser to give them as much water as we could.

This time, 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.

The friendly landowner provided lunch for volunteers on all three days, as well as copious amounts of tea, coffee and biscuits. He also put out hay bundles in the barn so volunteers had shelter and somewhere to sit on their break which was very welcome.

We don’t normally carry out a survival survey in the first year, but we were very concerned about these trees in the face of this hot dry summer. When we arrived, we found that many saplings were dry and brown. Even those that had clearly been growing were showing at least some brown leaves. At least 50% were dead so we decided to act.

A week later we returned with tanks of water to try to save those saplings with the best chance of survival.

We will return as early as possible in the planting season to restock, thus giving the new saplings the best opportunity to settle in. Hopefully, 2023 will not be another drought year.

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. On day one of planting we were joined by 17 heroic volunteers with the task of planting the first of 4,000 trees.

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.

The actual planting wasn’t easy as some areas are quite steep, with heavy clay soil making things even harder. The ground was wet underfoot on the more level ground after the recent rain, but this ensures that the saplings will have plenty to drink to get them started. Despite the challenges, the volunteers had fun and did a great job over the three days.