Muddy marvels plant 660 trees at new wood near Aylesbury and Leighton Buzzard

A hardy bunch of Wing residents braved the cold and damp February weather and dug in to embed 660 trees at the first ever Community Planting Day for local residents at Wing Wood.

Around 35 volunteers donned spades and wellies to add to the 109,000 trees already planted at Wing Wood, just outside Burcott, on Saturday. Another 23,000 are being planted this year.

The project is a joint initiative, with Forestry England managing the Buckinghamshire Council owned site. Forestry England staff gave a briefing to the assembled residents, including warning that tree-planting may appear to be a harmless enough activity but hammering your hand instead of the stake if you are not paying attention had led to A & E admissions in the past.

As the weather has been damp rather than icy recently the ground wasn’t hard to dig and the clay base made it easier than some other areas, staff pointed out.

Diggers ranged in age from three to 73 and with many doing tree planting for the first time the sessions were marked with friendly banter as volunteers helped each other out. Some managed to plant 10 or 11 Scots pine, silver birch and rowans during each two hour session while the more energetic laid more than 20 in the ground.

Buckinghamshire Council junior woodland creation officer Naomi Proudlove said: “Fortunately the ground was relatively soft after all the recent rain – which mostly held off during the event.

“All the volunteers seemed to enjoy the opportunity to plant some trees and find out more about the site and the overall plans for woodland creation there.”

Wing ward councillor Diana Blamires, the only councillor at the community planting day, said: “Not many people would choose to spend a cold February morning digging but actually it was surprisingly therapeutic – if a little muddy.

“By the end of the morning our volunteer group had planted getting on for 500 trees. Well done Wing residents. I would normally be doing the shopping on a Saturday morning but I am so pleased I joined the volunteers helping to create a legacy for future generations instead.

“As well as the hard graft we had a good laugh as many of us made mistakes at the start. Thanks to Buckinghamshire Council and Forestry England for organising such an enjoyable and worthwhile event.”

Bethany Cambridge, Forestry England head of woodland creation, said: “Wing Wood is one of many new woodlands Forestry England is creating across the country to tackle the climate emergency and the nature crisis we are facing, as well as providing beautiful, inspiring places for people to spend time in. We look forward to seeing this new climate-resilient woodland mature in the years ahead.”

Wing Wood is a 51-hectare woodland created to be an inspiring green space for local people, a habitat for wildlife and a sustainable source of timber. Forestry England will create five new wildlife ponds and a community orchard at Wing Wood.

With targets to treble planting rates by 2024 Forestry England is planting at least 2,000 hectares of new woodland. Buckinghamshire Council has committed to planting 543,000 trees over the next decade – one for every resident in Buckinghamshire.

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