Upp Hall Farm

Mike visited to conduct a survival survey, and he found an overall 80% survival rate! The whole area was buzzing with bees, butterflies, crickets and other insects.

A local Beaver Scout group visited to forage for sticks & pine cones in a nearby more established woodland, then they made the big ‘bug hotel’ to add to the area.

The team also placed a couple of corrugated metal sheets, which have seen lots of field voles and banded grass snakes using that habitat.

The two areas on site are a bit different - the area planted near the farmyard has a 86% survival rate, and the area further away is about 70%. The failures seem to be scattered throughout the site, so there’s not a particular area or tree type that has done less well. There have also been a few additional trees (field maple) that have self-seeded from the nearby green lane in the lower survival area.

The grass and wildflowers here were getting very long, and whilst that is good ephemeral habitat between the saplings, they will actually be competing with the tree for the nutrients in the soil. The mulch mats fend off the grass and other plants directly around the sapling, and keep in the moisture in the soil too, greatly increasing the tree’s survival chances during the hot, dry summers we seem to be getting more and more frequently.

To help this woodland succeed, we were fortunate enough to have ten volunteers from Google on a corporate team building day who travelled by train on a rather warm day to help Steve pop the biodegradable mulch mats around the saplings. They had planted the trees last year and were keen to see their progress.

The landowner strimmed around each sapling beforehand to make things easier and the volunteers were enthusiastic to help us protect existing trees. We had planned for two groups but unfortunately the other group had to cancel at the last moment, so the Google volunteers had a harder day than expected. They did their best, even staying beyond their finish time to get the job done!

Our contact at Google sent us an email once they had recovered. “The feedback from our end was really positive. It was (despite the heat) a pleasant day out and really satisfying to peer down the top of a tree guard and see a little tenacious bit of baby tree carrying on. The farmers were great as well, very welcoming and they brought us out some cold drinks and homemade loaf in the afternoon which was very kind of them and much appreciated.”

In October 2022 we visited Upp Hall Farm and planted 600 trees. Species included Black Alder, Field Maple, Silver Birch, Hornbeam, Hazel, Hawthorne, Spindle, Crab Apple, Aspen, Wild Cherry, Blackthorne, Scots Pine, Oak, Willow, Rowan, Service Tree, Small Leaf Lime, and Guelder Rose. These were cell-grown trees as we needed to get the season off to an early start. The trees were scattered randomly over two areas of the farm, with shrubs mainly around the perimeter. We left some open clearings and ensured we did not encroach on the public footpath which crosses the site.

We were lucky to get the use of some heavy equipment for moving trees which saves us so much time, and we had great autumn weather for the planting days. All trees were supported with stakes and guards, and the planting was done over a two days with the help of our volunteers, including a corporate group from Google.