Blog

Now is the best time to get out and give your trees a pre-winter health check. Rachel (our Operations Manager) has spent the season with our landowners, monitoring the progress of all the schemes we have planted to date. The success has been great and part of that is due to the attention and care of the individuals, farmers and families who look after the trees. Of course not everyone has looked after trees before, and sharing best practice and answering questions is part of our everyday. Rachel shares here some of our top tips for caring for your trees, whether you've planted with us or anyone else.

Work at our community tree nursery in Bettws goes on throughout the year. We're indebted to our volunteers, and also our community of supporters who provide us with the resources we need for a key task, mulching our trees. Our Ops manager Rachel explains why we mulch our trees, how we do it, why sheep's wool is involved and how this is all a sustainable part of the circular economy.

The bracken is high, and the weather hasn't been great, but Sheelagh and Rachel have been out on the hill, doing the slow walk of the insect spotter!

Willow is a fabulous and incredibly adaptable tree. As we look for new ways to sensitively manage the landscapes we live in, Willow comes into its own in river restoration.

Our Trustee, Bob Vaughan, introduces Willow 'Spiling' as an alternative to rock gabions or concrete supports to stabilise a bank. In addition, whilst the stone would have speeded up downstream flow, the natural in-stream Willow will reduce the force and speed of the water, reducing downstream erosion and potentially helping to reduce flood peaks.

In the third of our three blogs for National Hedgerow week, something a little bit different. Hedgerows aren't just good for the soul (and the soil!)

National Hedgerow Week: In our second blog focusing on Hedgerows, Jenny talks about the brilliant Traditional Boundaries of Wales project which is being run in partnership between the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority and Stump Up For Trees. 

This project has demonstrated the enthusiasm of farmers to increase and restore hedgerow boundaries within their farms and the wider awareness of the core benefits of this under celebrated habitat.

It's National Hedgerow Week! To celebrate we are talking about all things Hedge. In the first of our three blogs, our Operations Manager, Rachel, talks about the benefits of hedgerows to ecology and the farm.

Rachel's third instalment of the Planting Diaries introduces Home Hill, an exciting new smallholding run by a family starting their farming journey, working with the landscape to use trees to improve habitats, support food production and bring local community benefits.

With planting season just over and spring in full swing we're already staring this years monitoring. Our wonderful volunteer Sheelagh introduces the first of this years ecological surveys - spotting birds on Bryn Arw (at 6am!)....

Our general manager Dr Jenny Knight talks a little about the multiple benefits of trees, and how, whilst we have planted for ecological restoration, our sites will benefit from these diverse characteristics. This is key in our belief that increased tree cover can be done in ways that are led by and support the rural community - you don't have to agree on why you want to plant a tree, meaning diverse communities can work together to achieve diverse goals.