Tree planting events at Heartwood – ‘Save the Date’

We have barely finished planting last winter’s trees but we’re already planning next winter!

It will be another jam packed winter of tree planting and we hope you’ll join us. Our target for the season will be 70,000 trees. We will need your help to make sure every single one is planted by a volunteer.

You’ll start to see our ‘save the date’ postcard around St Albans, check out the details below. Make sure you get the dates in your diary and come and join for another tree planting marathon!

Volunteering at Heartwood over the summer

Now that the tree planting has come to an end we will be concentrating on different volunteer tasks at Heartwood.

Each month a group of volunteers will get together to carry out essential maintenance tasks and we could use your help!

If you can spare some time during the week why not come along and help us with such tasks as weeding and mulching our newly planted orchard or perhaps cleaning and oiling our numerous spades ready for next winter’s marathon tree planting season!

If you would like more information about how to get involved, email Louise on heartwood@woodlandtrust.org.uk.

 

Taken any good photos at Heartwood recently?

The 2013 photography competition is well underway at Heartwood. If you have some photos that you’re particularly proud then why not enter them?

The deadline is 15th November so you have plenty of time, check out the details below and happy snapping!

Hop into spring at Heartwood

Spring is finally here and everything is greening up and starting to flower. It’s never around for long enough so make sure you make the most of it; get out there and enjoy the spring flowers, watch the birds making their nests and come and see how our newly planted trees are doing.

If having a guided walk at Heartwood sounds like something you’d be interested in doing, get in touch. We have trained guided walk leaders who can take you round the site, explain about the project taking in the sights and smells of spring.

Contact heartwood@woodlandtrust.org.uk for more information.

Volunteer John giving a guided walk at Heartwood

Fundraisers go the extra mile for Heartwood

Last Spring local resident Alex Mowe ran a marathon in aid of Heartwood Forest and managed to raise an impressive £1,000! This year he is attempting two marathons with half of all donations going to Heartwood.

If you think Alex deserves your support check out his Just Giving page and donate whatever you can to encourage him along that 26.2 mile run!

We would like to say a huge thanks to Alex for dedicating his time to our cause and helping us to create and maintain Heartwood, thank you Alex!

Heartwood Forest Wildlife Notes – March 2013

It’s been a difficult start to 2013 for wildlife and for wildlife watchers. The persistent cold temperatures with prolonged periods of snow on the ground have reduced my visits and reports from others.
The year started well with the Short-eared owls being seen again. Thanks to Ann Doubleday for the photos. Snow on the ground stops the owls from hunting so they move elsewhere and have only been seen briefly since. A number of unusual bird sightings have been reported so far this year, with Corn Bunting, Oystercatcher, Golden Plover and Little Owl added to the ‘list’ for Heartwood Forest. Thanks to Andrew Steele and others who reported these.
I’m sure many unreported species pass through Heartwood Forest and that this is because few wildlife watchers visit regularly. So please encourage your friends to visit , especially now the warm(er) weather is here and keep these wildlife records coming to me.

Geoff Horn geoffrhorn@yahoo.co.uk

Another tree planting season at Heartwood

Yesterday saw the last of this seasons trees planted at Heartwood. With another ambitious target of 85,000 trees, all with volunteers, we wondered if it would be possible to complete before the buds started to burst on the trees. We had many cancellations and postponed events due to snow and ice, more than any other year in Heartwoods history, but we’re pleased to report that we have now completed all 85,000 trees!

This has only been possible with the continued support of thousands of local people. We can’t thank you enough for your time and energy and turning up with spade in hand whatever the weather. For me the most memorable part of this season is seeing over 700 people turn out for our March planting event. This is normally a beautiful spring day, not this year! With driving wind and rain I was certain no one would venture out but how wrong you proved me! Not only did you continue to support us you planted 10,000 trees that day.

We have another impressive list of stats for winter 2012/13:
5,157 people planted tree, 2,202 of those were school children.

We held seven weeks of school planting events, 32 corporate team building events, three community planting events and 18 weekly work parties.

It doesn’t stop there though; we still have 215,000 trees to go before we can say Heartwood is complete so we’ll be doing it all again next winter, look out for the dates coming soon.

Here’s some photo highlights from this season:

The season kicked off with tiny children scattering tree seeds to help create Heartwood

The first community event of the season was a huge success in November

Thousands of school children joined us too and got a little muddy!

Even Father Christmas paid us a visit!

The March community planting day turned out to be one of the worst days to plant trees, but that didn’t you off!

GlaxiSmithCline were one of the numerous corporate groups to join in this winter

And the scouts lent a hand to complete our ambitious target of 85,000 trees