NATURE
Take up the tree challenge By Ben Newton, Habitat Connectivity Officer at Norfolk Wildlife Trust
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orfolk Wildlife Trust’s Claylands Wilder Connections project is working with communities and landowners in South Norfolk to connect people with nature and to improve physical connections for wildlife within the landscape. Planting trees in hedges or woodlands is a fantastic legacy for the future. Trees store carbon and act as valuable ‘highways’ to help wildlife move through the landscape. Whatever the scale of your planting, from a tree in your garden to a wood on a farm, NWT recommend: • Find out what you have already. Look for existing wildlife features such as meadows, ponds and fens. Information on existing habitats is available from Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service. It’s all about the right tree in the right place. • Consider the site’s existing wildlife features and build in new ones. Mature woodlands tend to have a varied structure – rides and glades, ponds and ditches, old trees, young trees plus standing and fallen dead trees. Each of these provides a home for wildlife. • Select a range of species suited to your soils and drainage – look at which trees grow well nearby. With a changing climate in mind, add in a few species that likes warm, dry conditions, such as hornbeam or small-leaved lime. Fruit trees, like crab apple or wild pear, will thrive on the woodland edges and provide food for birds and pollinating insects. Shrubs
like hawthorn and spindle can increase diversity. • Vary the spacing, with some trees closely planted and others that are more open. • Create micro-habitats such as log piles as shelter for invertebrates, along with bird, bat and bee boxes. It will be a long while before the young trees can support these species, so give them a chance from the start. • Plan for future management. In a few years, woods may need thinning if the trees are crowded and coppicing of species like hazel and willow will provide low cover for small birds. Coppicing means cutting down a tree to the ground and allowing it to regrow.
• Be patient. The process of turning land into woodland is slow, but the wildlife you see along the way is worth it!
A volunteer tree planting session at Old Hall Farm in Woodton. (Picture credit Richard Osbourne).
Claylands Tree Pack Giveaway NWT has teamed up with the Woodland Trust to offer free trees to people within the Claylands area. Anyone can apply for 50 or 100 native trees – communities could split packs between several locations. For more information: www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/freetrees 43
