The shade of trees has been appreciated across the region during the hot summer months. Helping lower temperatures, keeping livestock, wildlife, water and people cooler, woodlands provide a range of benefits in a warming climate. To help support our continuing work we are asking the community to help give Dartmoor’s future native woodlands a helping hand.
Each summer and autumn volunteers are invited to explore Dartmoor’s ancient woodlands to help source native tree seed to grow, create and restore woodlands in and around Dartmoor. We will be visiting a number of woodlands over the season and no previous experience is required to join. It’s an opportunity to visit significant woodlands in the area and gather the seed, berries and nuts and understand how through supporting Moor Trees volunteers are helping to shape a more resilient future landscape.
On the day, seed gathering volunteers are given an overview of how to identify different species, assess the health of trees and shrubs and learn more about the importance of the charity’s seed collecting activities. The harvested seed is then taken to our two Community Tree Nurseries to be cleaned, stored and germinated over the coming weeks and months, and in two to three years the saplings that grow will be planted out by our volunteers at various sites to create and restore woodland across Dartmoor.
After last year’s bumper crop of seed (when Moor Trees volunteers collected a staggering 352,000 fruits, nuts, acorns and berries), this year’s long, dry summer has had a noticeable effect on our trees. Mature trees have been dropping fruits and leaves earlier in order to preserve water and the charity has already had to enlist volunteers from our Community Tree Nurseries to help collect Hazel nuts. These are usually ready in mid-August, but have ripened weeks earlier this year. Some trees and areas appear to be more impacted by the drought this summer than others, with trees in woodlands generally seeming more resilient to the hot, dry weather.
Dave Lewis, Operations Manager for Moor Trees says: “Thanks to the generosity of volunteers, landowners and the Woodland Trust we are able to gather a wide range of local, native tree seed allowing us to grow resilient, local provenance trees in our two Community Tree Nurseries ready for woodland creation on Dartmoor. Our seed gathering days with the local community provide a unique opportunity to spend time in some of our most majestic local woodlands, learning more about the growth cycle of trees and how the charity is working hard to create future woodlands across the area.”
Moor Trees’ seed gathering season runs from mid-August through to late October and is funded by the Woodland Trust thanks to support from Postcode Lottery players.
Adam Taylor, Interim Outreach Manager for Woodland Trust says: “We are pleased to be able to support Moor Trees. Their work fills a significant gap in the market by collecting locally sourced seeds and growing them into trees, many of which are difficult to source elsewhere. Because the seed comes from locally established trees, we know it originates from stock that is well suited to local conditions. This helps to improve survival rates and, in turn, enhances the health and resilience of new woods and trees, many of which will be planted within the region’s temperate rainforest zone”.
Moor Trees provides an essential local service by sourcing and growing a diverse range of local provenance native broadleaved woodland species. These include Oak, Hawthorn, Hazel, Field Maple, Guelder Rose, Rowan, Blackthorn, Crab Apple and Alder Buckthorn, and volunteers who join us will learn to identify and discover best methods to harvest seed.
Tree seed, nuts and berries being sorted for transport back to the Community Tree Nurseries
Moor Trees is running seed gathering activities, with thanks to the woodland’s landowners, at the following locations:
- Thursday 3rd September – Avon Valley Woods
- Sunday 6th September – Hembury Woods
- Sunday 13th September – Newbridge
- Thursday 17th September – Bovey Valley Woods
- Sunday 20th September – Afternoon only at Dart Valley nature reserve following Moor Trees AGM at Badger’s Holt (all welcome)
- Thursday 24th September – Plymbridge Woods
- Sunday 27th September – Woodah farm
- Sunday 4th October – Venford reservoir
- Sunday 11th October – Emsworth Mire
If you’d like to take positive action for the climate and nature within your local community you can find out more and sign up for events by visiting www.moortrees.org/events.
Moor Trees is grateful for the continued support of its volunteers that help out year-round growing trees and creating native woodland to help breathe more life back into Dartmoor. To help make that future possible, Moor Trees is calling on more people to get involved by volunteering time, creating woodlands with us on their land, or supporting the charity’s work through donations.
