Landscape Recovery in the Lower Chew Valley commences!
By Matthew Smith, Natural Capital & Corporate Partnership Lead During August and September we have been busy with our partners at the Bristol and Avon Rivers Trust […]
We have reached an agreement for our second land purchase – 19 acres of land at Seend near Melksham!
This new piece of land is just seven miles from Hazeland, the first piece of land we bought, and while it is slightly further from Bristol is still inside the high Bristol-Avon catchment area.
It is a site where we believe we can really add value. There are extensive mature hedgerows, standing dead wood and two natural pond areas. The land rolls down to the Kennet and Avon canal. The grass is not species rich and therefore very suitable for tree planting.
The land is already crossed by public footpaths and we look forward to making this a real community asset. We plan to plant a large woodland of native broadleafs and a substantial community orchard. We will leave meadow alongside the canal and create a flower-rich, accessible viewing point.
Full ecological studies have been commissioned but we already have anecdotal evidence of a decline in bird species in the area. The good news is that neighbours to this land have already begun tree planting and so our plans will build on their work, creating a substantial nature reserve.
We already have some funds we can put towards the purchase of Seend, and while we know most of the £175,000 needed will come from businesses, trusts and large donors, we still need your help. Today we launched a crowdfunder campaign – please visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/AvonNeedsTrees to read more about this project, donate if you can, and please share it with your friends, family, neighbours and other networks!
Every donation, big or small, not only gets us a little bit closer to buying this land, but also demonstrates support for our project, which is essential for accessing larger pots of money. Thank you!
We will be hosting a free open day at Seend for any Avon Needs Trees supporters to visit the land. If you’d like to know more, or have questions, come and take a look on Sunday 4th of October. Because of COVID we will need to stagger arrivals at the site, so please email contact@avonneedstrees.org.uk if you would like to attend.
