The countryside rangers and volunteers at South Somerset District Council’s Yeovil Country Park have been busy planting trees this winter.
In total, over 1,000 trees have been planted in the Ninesprings area of the Country Park since November 2015. The vast majority of these were free, with the Friends of Yeovil Country Park securing free tree packs from the Woodland Trust and The Conservation Volunteers.
The countryside team have been busy throughout the winter removing sycamore and elder saplings to make room for the new trees. With over ten different species being planted, they will increase the biodiversity of the woodland and make the woodland sustainable and resistant to disease in the long term.
Some of the species the team have planted include oak, silver birch, rowan, crab apple, field maple, hazel and cherry. This lovely mix of native species will add colour and be a real benefit to wildlife as they mature.
The free trees that the Friends of Yeovil Country Park received are only small saplings and so the rangers expect only a small proportion of them to survive, which is why they have been planted in dense clusters.
Councillor Sylvia Seal, Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Culture at South Somerset District Council said, “Tree planting is a really important element of our country park management plans. With the free trees and grant support available from a variety of conservation organisations, is it great news that our ranger team and volunteers have worked so hard to plant trees this winter. It can be a difficult job working in bad weather on slopes, so as ever, our thanks go out to the hardy and dedicated volunteers that have helped the rangers achieve this planting target this last year”.