Thorncombe Street

When we went to carry out our survey this August we found that the survival rates here have been very varied, and lower than we would have hoped, despite the recent restock. The landowners have done their best by weeding between the trees this year.

Most of the new trees had shown no signs of grown, probably because they were planted towards the end of the season. It would appear that only 12 of the 40 older saplings sampled in this area were still alive.

The shelterbelt has fared much better with 57 alive out of the 84 sampled, despite the ferns growing vigorously along part of its length. The surviving trees are now tall and reasonably healthy, with the birches doing particularly well.

The woodland has fared best of all with 126 out of 150 were alive and well. Some of them would have been protected from the worst of the summer heat by more mature trees. There were dense brambles in the centre of the woodland but this does not appear to be a problem at the moment.

In March 2026, Duncan returned with a group of volunteers to carry out a targeted restock across the site. Some volunteers were from TML Partners, the second time they have volunteered with us this season, plus some keen local volunteers.

TML planted some of these trees on a previous visit a couple of years ago and were keen to see how ‘their’ trees were doing. The were please to give them a little TLC and to replace those which hadn’t made it. A total of 460 trees were replanted to replace losses identified during Angus’ survival rate survey conducted at the end of summer 2025.

The volunteers carried out the restocking and maintenance work, checking existing planting lines and ensuring replacement trees were distributed evenly across the site to support the healthy establishment of both the original planting and the newly restocked trees over time. Some rotting stakes were replaced and a few new guards were used to replace damaged ones.

What went well according to the volunteers? “The weather. The company. The entertaining landowner making us nice coffee. Really enjoyed Duncan’s company and chatting bikes with him.”

Angus visited in August to carry out a survival survey. He found that across the site the three planted areas are doing well considering the dry weather. This was partly thanks to the landowners who have maintained all three sites very well. The least successful area was the woodland area with a survival rate of 70% but the area by the barn had an 88% survival rate which was much better. The linear patch of wood on the hilltop is also doing well.

We will go back and have a woodland maintenance day and plant a few trees to keep the overall survival rate up in that area.

In June 2025 Steve led a group of ten corporate volunteers from Talking Tables to carry out some routine maintenance on the trees here, some of which they had planted themselves in the first place. They were keen to see what progress ‘their’ trees has made and to give them a little TLC. They removed grass growing inside guards and straightened or replaced stakes and guards as needed.

It was a dry day and pleasantly warm. Helen and Henrietta provided refreshments, which were very appreciated by everyone.

Talking Tables gave some lovely feedback. “Wanted to say we had such a wonderful day volunteering with Steve and so pleased to say he was really impressed with how healthy our plot of trees were.”

After the success of our planting here last year, the landowners asked if we could help them again. This time, they had the trees, but desperately needed some help to plant them. We had volunteers from TML Partners all organised to help us, but then there was a train strike and they couldn’t make it, so our three team members at least made a start in the planting. Not all events go smoothly!

We made a new date, and even found some extra volunteers from Park Avenue Recruitment to lend a hand too. So, in March 2024 we returned to Thorncombe Street to finish the job of planting 2500 trees and shrubs.

There is very little mobile signal here so Google maps stopped working at a crucial moment. One group of volunteers accidentally went to a nearby farm and said they were the volunteers who had come to plant the trees. The farmer couldn’t believe his luck, because he just happened to have a big pile of trees that needed planting, so he set them to work. The volunteers had planted a good 40m of the neighbour’s hedge before Phil managed to track them down and point them in the direction of the trees they SHOULD have been planting!

Despite this, we still managed to get the job done and the volunteers said that the had had “a cracking time” and asked when they could volunteer with us again!

This was our first planting at Thornton Street. The woodland had a lot of Cherry Laurel in it which the landowners had removed before we arrived. The primary issue with Cherry Laurel is that it’s just too good at growing! It outpaces almost all other native species planted alongside it, and steals all the nutrients, leading to a monoculture. Removing these shrubs had left many gaps in the woodland.

We planned two days of planting, with corporate volunteers from Talking Tables on the first day, and from TML Partners on the second. With Steve marking out where the saplings should be planted using bamboo canes, we were able to plant some local variants of trees in the woodland gaps, ensuring a much wider variety in the immediate vicinity of the planting area. We were also able to create a narrow shelterbelt along the side of the road. By creating these areas of diversity, it means that all manner of wildlife are able to make their homes in and amongst the trees.

The volunteers all had a great time. “Super day - highly rewarding and our team came away feeling they had made a positive impact. Phil was superb throughout.”