National Trust project to plant almost half a million trees this winter
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Schemes at 20 sites in England will create woodlands, wood pasture, hedgerows and orchards. Some of the schemes are relatively modest, such as orchards planted with heritage varieties of fruit and nut trees, while others are much grander, thousands of trees linking up existing patches of woodland to create nature-rich forests.
![[Aerial view of trees planted on a green field, which has a large patch of ice in one corner]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3fd903804401055f502e0a450e334b1ff8358e8e/179_0_3370_2023/master/3370.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Almost half a million trees are being planted in England this winter in a partnership between the National Trust and a UK-government funded project, creating woodlands, wood pasture, hedgerows and orchards. One of the most eye-catching schemes is at Buckland Abbey near Plymouth in Devon, where more than 30,000 trees are being planted.
![[A barbastelle bat clinging to a tree trunk]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/660dba0228d831fa4017f8622c503c54f42435cb/0_282_5472_3283/master/5472.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The expansion of woodland on the estate, which dates back more than 700 years, is designed to boost biodiversity and create more space for wildlife. Fritillary butterflies, oil beetles, harvest mice – and the barn owls that prey on them – will benefit from the range of woody habitats and hedgerows.
Broadleaved trees such as sessile oak, elm, blackthorn, birch, rowan and wild cherry are being planted at Buckland. They are being planted close to ancient woodlands across the estate, and the hope is that as well as benefiting insects, mammals and birds, it will improve conditions for rare lichens, liverworts and mosses to flourish.
About 400 heritage fruit, hazel and cobnut trees will also be planted to recreate the sort of medieval orchard that the abbey’s Cistercian monks used to tend. At another Devon site, Killerton, near Exeter, almost 70,000 trees including oak, hornbeam, alder and spindle are being planted and wood pasture developed – scattered trees and scrubby outcrops, which are good for the highland cattle one local farmer breeds and the 13 species of bats that live there.
