We’ve now officially come to the end of our planting season across all our sites and we are delighted to reveal that a grand total of 14,500 trees have been planted by 1,000 volunteers!

This incredible achievement has only been possible because of you, our dedicated volunteers and volunteer leaders who have joined our planting days across the season through rain and shine. Over the past few months we’ve welcomed so many wonderful volunteers to our sites, including several local businesses, schools and university groups, as well as fantastic organisations such as Black2Nature, The Harbour Project, and Shift Bristol.

Whether you are a new member to our volunteer team, or have been with us from the start, we would like to give a huge thank you from everyone at ANT for helping us reach this amazing milestone. You can read the full story from each of our sites below.

Tree planting may be over until November, but there is much more to come! Our newly planted saplings will need plenty of care and nurturing to help them grow into a flourishing permanent woodland, so keep an eye out for our conservation days. We will also be launching an exciting summer events programme which you’ll be able to sign up to shortly on our Events page.

 

Great Avon Wood

Since we announced Great Avon Wood in February, we have been simply blown away by the enthusiasm for this new woodland project and had an amazing 435 volunteers, both new and returning, plant over 6,000 trees in just 7 short weeks. This project is by far our most ambitious to date, covering over 100 acres on the doorstep of Bristol and Bath and in partnership with Forest of Avon Trust. 

Missed out on this season’s planting or want to get more involved? There is still a huge amount of work to be done to reach our target of 40,000 trees over the next few winters, as well as conservation days and events across the Spring and Summer period which will be announced soon.

If you are looking for another way to support our work at Great Avon Wood, we are also fundraising to ensure our newly planted baby trees have the best chance for survival, and to make sure the site stays open and safe for visitors. Match funding from the Save our Wild Isles Aviva fund means every donation is doubled matched – so a donation of £10 means we receive £30!

Group of Scouts volunteering at Hazeland

Hazeland and Pudding Brook Wood

We’ve had a brilliant planting season over at our Wiltshire sites, finishing our second round of planting at Pudding Brook Wood ahead of schedule, and completing our final ever season of tree planting at Hazeland. 

Hazeland was the first piece of land purchased by ANT in August 2020, so it’s a really significant moment to have now planted the last tree on the site. Planting began in the winter of 2020/21 and since then we have had two winters of planting to replace any trees that did not survive.

Tara Castle, our Project Co-ordinator for Hazeland reflects on her experience working on the project:

“What a journey it has been through the challenges of covid and two really dry springs and hot summers. We’ve had hundreds of volunteers involved and it has been hard work at times, but it has always felt really enjoyable and worthwhile.

We will continue to care for these trees into the future and look forward to seeing the woodland developing. There will be plenty more volunteer and public engagement days on site so please keep an eye on our website for details if you wish to get involved.”

Ed Woods

Our Ed Woods project broke new ground in more ways than one, as ANT’s first ever land partnership as well as first project near Shepton Mallet. Landowners Bob and George partnered with ANT after inheriting the land from their late father Ed, to create a new woodland to honour their parents’ life.  Throughout the season, we’ve been joined by people who wanted to tree-plant in memory of Ed and people they’ve loved and lost in their own lives. 

Thanks to the hardwork and spirit of our amazing volunteers and our brilliant Project Co-ordinator Rachel Hamilton, planting at Ed Woods has been a resounding success and we reached our target of 4,000 trees just last weekend, marking the end of the 2022/23 planting season at Avon Needs Trees. 

 

Image credits: Debs Hoy, Rob Carnier, Tara Castle, and Rachel Hamilton