Whether you are planting trees or hedgerows to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, contribute to climate change adaption, or help nature’s recovery, aim to plant species that will maximise the benefits for wildlife.
Trees are wondrous, no doubt about it. The ancient and veteran variety towering majestically above us, providing shelter and food to countless other species, securing soil with their network of roots, and communicating to other plants and symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi via chemical transfers. England has more large ancient Oaks than any other country in Europe; the Great Park of Oxfordshire’s Blenheim Palace alone has 143 oaks which are over 6m in girth.
IMPORTANT Before Planting When Not in a Garden
People are rightly passionate about protecting existing trees and planting new ones. In fact, many people see tree-planting as the answer to sucking up all the carbon we’re releasing, a quick-fix letting us ‘off the hook’ from adopting a low-carbon economy. But there’s tree planting and tree-planting…
Tree planting without considering the wider landscape can cause damage to rare habitats, like our chalk meadows and floodplain grazing marsh (which are excellent carbon sinks in their own right), and potentially put the trees in the wrong conditions meaning that the trees don’t thrive or survive.
What is already on your land? Carry out a survey and check what data (on species, habitats and designations) is available from Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre.
The wider landscape context: Does the land fall into one of the three Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Oxfordshire? What habitat are you wanting to plant in?
Discover which zone of the Nature Recovery Network your land is in
If you are a community group, then our Community Ecologist Imogen will be able to help you with bespoke guidance and advice on how to best enhance your area for nature
If you are within West Oxfordshire, then contact the Wychwood Forest Trust who manage a number of nature reserves within the boundary of the former Wychwood Forest in west Oxfordshire
Right tree, right place? Find out more at the Oxfordshire Treescapes Project (oxtrees.uk)
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