Eastcourt Farm

This site is doing quite well, thanks to the recent restocking and maintenance day, with an overall survival rate of 85%. Those that have died, appeared to have died recently, with dried leaves still on the branches. This is presumably due to the drought and excessive heat of the last few weeks.

The saplings that were planted nearest to the existing hedge are becoming swallowed up by it, although the saplings continue to do well at the moment, with saplings growing well above the guards.

It was good to observe butterflies including painted lady, small blue and meadow brown visiting the site during our visit.

We returned to Eastcourt Farm in March 2026, to carry out a restock of trees. This time, we were accompanied by a corporate group from Sandhata, and some volunteers from the local nature club. Sandhata’s clients came from as far afield as London and Gloucester to work with us, and the effort was very appreciated by our team.

It was an overcast but dry day, and all our volunteers had a good time planting trees and pulling weeds and long grass. The restock went really well; we planted 400 new trees, all with stakes and tree shelters, to give them the best possible chance to grow strong. As always, we will follow up this restock with a scheduled survey to check how everything is doing.

Feedback from our volunteers was very positive. “We had a great time yesterday. Thanks to Phil for explaining and guiding us. It was a great outing and everyone enjoyed the time out there.”

We visited Eastcourt Farm on a rainy day in September to carry out a scheduled survey, checking up on the health of our saplings and deciding the maintenance needs of the site. Possibly due to the hot weather over the summer, only 51% of our trees survived, and 77% of the shrubs. We found long grass outgrowing the saplings in some places, which would also hinder growth.

As we care about the success of our projects and guarantee healthy trees that can provide the habitat needed for the area, we have scheduled a restock for the 25/26 season. We will be returning to the site to plant replacement saplings and maintain the area, ensuring all the trees have the best possible environment to grow.

Our team led the day, first by demonstrating the way we prefer to plant our saplings and then running through a safety briefing. We had two groups of volunteers on Saturday, a corporate group from Uddenholm, Birmingham and a group of Vegan Runners based in Bristol who even went for a run first! Daisy Brasington came along to take lots of photos of the day for us and Kathy, who usually works behind the scenes, came to lend a hand too.

The weather, although chilly, was sunny and bright so the volunteers enjoyed a picnic in the field at lunchtime. There was a certain amount of friendly rivalry between the two groups which was good fun, and the longer shelterbelt in the first field was completed on the first day.

Our volunteers on Sunday were local people who were also keen to lend a hand. The shelterbelt was shorter than the one we planted on Saturday and finished by early afternoon. A total of 1200 mixed native trees and shrubs were planted over the two days.

This farm has sheep so they will benefit from the protection a shelterbelt provides once the saplings have had time to grow.