Hawling

Hawling

๐Ÿ“ Cheltenham, England

Protect Earth was born in the hills of Cotswolds so it's always a joy to expand our influence here. The windswept hills are devoid of trees, and the once diverse grasslands have been replaced with โ€œimproved grassโ€ for grazing, so there is a lot of room to improve the situation.

Avoiding some historic quarry sites, an archeological site, and some underground electric cables, we planted 315 trees on one farm, then their neighbors got in touch looking to rewild some unused parts of their farms. Now weโ€™re creating a wildlife network, connecting all new and existing woodlands and scrubland with shelterbelts and hedgerows.

The planting here was a great time. Half of the village came out to help, including neighboring farmers. They cut back a huge patch of blackthorn to provide wood chip mulch, which weโ€™ve spread around the saplings to keep back competition from the fast growing grass and weeds.

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๐Ÿ“ Site Updates

August 2025

Beat-up Survey ๐Ÿ“Š 50% survival rate

August 2025

Beat-up Survey ๐Ÿ“Š 86% survival rate

April 2025

Beat-up Survey

March 2023

Tree Planting ๐ŸŒณ 880 trees planted

01 Mar 2023

March 2023 we came back to Hawling again, to plant another 880 trees, adding these trees means our Hawling woodland has grown nicely, and the saplings are doing well, merging into planting on a third neighbours land to create a network effect for wildlife.

March 2023

Restocking ๐ŸŒฑ 400 trees restocked

March 2023 we came back to Hawling again, to replace 400 failed saplings. This was one of our larger losses, with almost 100% of the previous January planting failing. There were several reasons for this, partly the incredibly hot summer and accompanying drought that hit in Summer 2022, and partly the total failure of most of the cardboard guards we were trialling here. They fell apart in the first few months and many were then eaten by deer. Another part of the problem was the south facing quick draining soil. We should not have planted there, but that was the last project we did before bringing on Steve the Ecologist and weโ€™ve had no similar problems since.

January 2022

Tree Planting ๐ŸŒณ 500 trees planted

On a slightly cloudier winters in January 2022, we were invited by the new owners of a neighbouring sheep farm, to help plant a further 500 trees a few fields away.

With Ash dieback hitting hard there was interest in replacing the lost trees, and we planted several Hornbeam which serve the same wildlife.

Site Location

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Volunteer

Help us create and maintain new woodlands, hedgerows and wildflower meadows! We need volunteers to sow seeds, plant saplings, clear invasive plant species and pick up litter. No qualifications necessary; jobs for all ages and abilities. Come and turn climate anxiety into climate action!

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Fund Our Work

With government funding for reforestation and rewilding tenuous, we increasingly rely on our amazing community to keep us growing regardless of political shifts. Help Protect Earth continue to restore ecosystems and improve biodiversity across the country:

Support the Land Fund

Help us put down roots! Your donations to our Land Fund let us seize the moment when the perfect piece of land comes up for sale. Every penny helps us secure community woodlands, healthier ecosystems, and a greener future for generations to come.

Land Fund โ†’