A number of our team members spent Monday 3 March with our friends from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) helping them plant up hundreds of new trees for a nearby nature recovery project.
The Living Landscapes project aims to help the conservation of wildlife at a landscape scale. The GWT team is working to create a mosaic of nature reserves, farmland, amenity land, and built up areas – which are managed in ways to encourage wildlife and people to share them, and so that they continue to function ecologically.
Monday’s efforts were to plant hundred of tree whips and plug plants across a patch of farmland, which will eventually grow and create an enhanced wildlife corridor. Holly, buckthorn, hawthorn, spindle, dog rose, hazel, and even oaks were carefully planted by hand. By linking existing habitats with new habitats, it is hoped that wildlife will better thrive across the area, and move through it more freely. This is important because well connected habitats allow wildlife populations to move as conditions becomes more or less favourable (often as a result of climate change). The movement of individuals between populations in a connected landscape maintains genetic diversity – which in turn increases species resilience.
The weather was extremely kind, and whilst we trudged home at the end of the day weary from a whole day of digging, we were contented in the knowledge that everyone’s efforts will hopefully lead to many years of improved habitat – with lots of benefits for wildlife!
Our thanks to Richard Spyvee and the GWT team for inviting us along.