Earthwatch's Tiny Forests

South Swindon Parish Council were recently approached by Earthwatch to gauge our interest in committing to planting a Tiny Forest in our area. According to their website:
Scientific modelling shows that just four years after planting, a single Tiny Forest will:
  • Grow up to 5x faster compared to traditional monoculture tree-planting schemes
  • Absorb up to 30x more carbon compared to traditional planting schemes
  • Attract more than 500 species of animals and plants - in addition to those planted
  • Process 30,000 litres of rainfall
  • Improve air quality through dust reduction
  • Provide up to 30x better noise reduction compared to traditional planting schemes
  • Help with thermal comfort 
 This looks great, and fits in well with our aims in the parish, The Ecologist magazine reported on the first Tiny Forest in the UK, in Witney. Last week the Guardian also reported on them.
A couple of days ago Jane Milner-Barry and I went separately to have a look at Witney's Tiny Forest planted on 14 March this year, a week before lockdown. It was my first trip out in a car for 3 months and felt strangely exciting, especially since the route from Swindon to Witney takes in some of the most fabulous countryside.
We  followed our direction aiding devices to OX28 3GB which led us to Eton Close where we parked our cars and then walked across the playing field beside the A40 where the tiny Forest has been planted.
 It's in a great location in one corner of the playing field
 There are benches to sit on just inside the gate, and there's an information panel near there as well.
 There's a sort of a mound been created for the planting, and moisture retaining straw has been added to the surface of the soil to a depth of about 10cm
 Most of the saplings look very healthy despite the near drought conditions for the last 3 month, the soil around each one is wet, indicating a good watering regime.
 It was a bit dull on the day we went, so good photos were hard to achieve
 This one's a bit dark as well, but shows Jane enjoying sitting on a bench.
 It's always good to get local reaction, so we asked a man walking a dog what he knew about it, he hadn't been involved in the planting, and suggested we take a look at the Foxburrow Wood if we wanted to look at a community wood. A family group picnicking in the field were unaware of the forest, and more interested in their food, a local resident of Eton Close had been aware of the planting day in March when she saw lots of activity in the field, but had not got involved herself. Looking on Facebook for Tychwood, it seems that Witney's Land Army were involved in the planting, they look like a great and very active group.
 Since we were over in Witney, we looked up Foxburrow Wood and were pleasantly surprised to find it was only 8 minutes drive away, so went to have a look. According to the Wychwood Project website:
'In 2012 the Wychwood Project acquired twenty two acres of farmland to the north of Witney to create Wychwood’s newest and largest community woodland by planting over 10,000 trees and shrubs.
The site, now known as Foxburrow Wood, was part of Southdown Farm to the west of a public bridleway known locally as Milking Lane.
Foxburrow Wood marks a key point in the development of the Wychwood Project and has helped us to achieve many of our long term aims to benefit the people, landscape and wildlife of the Wychwood area.
The land was previously used for grazing cattle. A small stream passes through the middle of the site and the ground slopes gently up from this to flatter ground. There is a network of well established hedgerows that provide effective boundaries.'
There's a car park at the entrance to the wood from Foxburrow Lane and lots of signage informing visitors about the area.
 They are supported by lots of organisations
 and this is the sort of pathway at the beginning of the area.
 This is an information board explaining about the types of trees
 This information board explains their vision to create a woodland that will benefit wildlife and landscape and, be a place for quiet recreation where local people can enjoy being in the countryside.
 At the far end of the wood, we met someone who talked about bringing her dog to the wood every day, we saw at least 5 groups of people, or individuals enjoying the space.
 There were lots of birds and butterflies in evidence and lots of wild spaces.
 Lots of wild flowers, but sadly no photographs of butterflies or moths.
 What a great day out to Witney, great work being done to create open spaces for people to enjoy. Tychwood, Wychwood and Foxburrow, great names.


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