On a sunny Friday morning in late June, Christy and Amelia popped on gardening gloves and headed off into the Somerset wilds to help at the Great Avon Wood project.

Great Avon Wood sits at the heart of two landscapes that are regionally important for nature’s recovery: the Limestone-Link and the southern border of the Dundry Downs. The site currently consists of a combination of grassland, hedgerows, deciduous woodland, streams, and rush beds. Local biodiversity and wildlife corridors will be enhanced as the woodland grows.

Great Avon Wood will play a role in reducing flood risk in the area. As the new trees grow, their leaves and canopies will help slow the rate that rainfall runs off the land into the River Chew, with long-term benefits for local villages and towns. When they reach maturity, the trees will absorb hundreds of tons of carbon per year, making a significant contribution to the South West’s plans to tackle the climate emergency.

Due to the time of year we visited, all the tree saplings had already been planted; a previous group had undertaken that mammoth task in the spring. Our role on the day was to do some tree bed maintenance, making sure the floor beds were clear of weeds and animal poop, and re-patching or replacing the foam coverings. The tubes used to protect the young trees were made from a mix of paper and cardboard, eliminating the need for plastic.

Here are some stats from the project so far:

We aim to visit again in the autumn…