It always interests us how many of the things we do are connected in some way. Often it is one landowner recommending us to a neighbour, so that we end up returning to plant more trees nearby. However, this story is a little different, linking several of the services we offer to help the environment.
During a casual conversation at a tree planting event in Powys, Phil, our chairman asked one of the volunteers, what he did for a living. Hearing that he laid hedges, this developed into to a much longer conversation which led to us offering two free hedge laying courses on the border of our land on Goytre Hill, Powys taught by John the volunteer which were very successful. At one of these courses, one of the attendees happened to mention that she had a woodland which was full of invasive rhododendron.
Rhododendrons are tough and spread rapidly, making them very difficult to control. They can cause a number of problems in the wild as they tend to form dense plants which block sunlight from reaching the floor of the woodland, thus leading to native plants being shaded out and to a loss of biodiversity. Their leaves are acidic and decompose slowly which affects the PH value and nutrients in the soil as well as releasing chemicals which inhibit the germination of other native plants. Rhododendrons in a woodland can reduce the availability of food and shelter for birds, mammals and invertebrates. They also contain pathogens such as Phytophthora Ramorum which causes sudden oak death and affects many other tree species too.
This woodland’s owner near Rhayader, Powys had been battling the rhododendrons almost single handedly for quite a while, but as she worked full time, she didn’t have a lot of time to deal with them, and the rhododendrons were clearly winning. After hearing her story, Steve, our ecologist, went to have a look for himself and decided that Protect Earth would be able to help her with her problem once the nesting season was over. Protect Earth organised an event for October and advertised for volunteers. Our team turned up to lead the day and to advise volunteers on the safest way to deal with the rhododenderon.
Local hero, Van, from Rayader in Nature (a wonderful local natural history group) was a force to be reckoned with as he and the other volunteers were incredibly enthusiastic and hard-working. The landowner provided excellent drinks and snacks, and a few family members to help with the work, and despite having injured her back the day before, the landowner also did her best to help out.
One of the volunteers described the hospitality as follows. ‘There were some amazing foodie treats, (sausage rolls with the best filling ever and cheese and onion marmalade swirls) and wonderful cake and more cake…’
Although we had only a small number of volunteers, they achieved far more than we expected. Armed only with bowsaws, loppers and secateurs they cleared the easier areas of the wood in record time and although we said we felt they had done enough, they wanted to tackle the area further up the slope. The Protect Earth team went off to complete a risk assessment of the area and decided that it could be safely accessed with care. The volunteers set to with a will and soon the slope was cleared too.
The cut rhododendrons have been stacked so that they cannot regrow and the team will revisit the site in a couple of months to treat the stumps as necessary.
One of our team said ‘We had a wonderful day. We got so much done, they were the best volunteers and most welcoming land owners I’ve ever worked with.’
All of this cost the landowner nothing, other than the cost of the food and drink to keep everyone going. This is what she had to say after the event.
“The people who represent Protect Earth are incredible - their energy was inspiring! We had some wonderful discussions and Phil shared some great ideas for the future of the wood. He’s certainly inspired me to forge ahead with the plans I have for our woods.The volunteers were an absolute force and the breaktime provisions were the least we could do. A huge thank you to them and I hope we meet them again. The whole process has been so lovely and welcoming.
I sincerely hope we can work with Protect Earth in the future and you can come back to our woods. I think with a woodland this size, collaborating with other likeminded people is such a positive way for us to move forward in what can be a daunting but rewarding task.”
We love stories like this. From a conversation at a tree planting event to a hedge laying course to the removal of invasive rhododendrons in a beautiful wood, all in Powys, these are three ways Protect Earth are doing their bit to improve the environment and reduce climate change.
Unfortunately nobody is funding Protect Earth for any of the ancient woodland work that we do across England and Wales. There are some new government grants around, but they are invitation only and so far have been going out to massive landowners and mega trusts that already have far deeper pockets than us Please sponsor a square of ancient woodland in our impact store, to help fund the tools, transport, and snacks, to keep our team and volunteers going, If you’d like to come along, please keep an eye out for events in your area!