Contents
- Upcoming Workshops & Events
- One Million Trees
- Royal Cornwall Show 2024
- Trees for Streets in Camborne
- National Hedgerow Week 2024
- Spotlight on agroforestry
- Community Tree Nurseries
- New Award
- Focus on Orchards
- Free Trees Giveaway
- Plant Healthy Certification
- Latest community projects
- National Plant Health Week
- Our newsletters
- Free Tree Packs
Have a look at our Autumn Newsletter 2024. Read all about the brilliant projects that are happening across Cornwall!
Free Tree Packs for Farmers - Apply by 1st November!
The Woodland Trust are supplying free tree packs for farmers or landholders in the South West of England. You can apply for 45 or 90 saplings to tackle tree disease, boost biodiversity and increase farm resilience. There is a quick application form to request a pack.
Upcoming Workshop Events
'How To' Clinic: EWCO Projects and Applications
This will cover:
- planting plans
- making alterations
- additional contributions
- how to use and manage contractors
- tree sources
- tree protection and more
These clinics will be invaluable to anyone considering a EWCO funded project or with an existing EWCO project. Includes a pasty lunch!
Please click on the location links below to book:
- Monday 7th October (10am-2pm) - Krowji, Redruth
- Monday 4th November (10am-2pm) - Tamar Valley Centre, near Gunnislake
Organised in partnership with the Forestry Commission and funded by DEFRA. These events are free to attend.
Orchard Projects and Management Techniques
Three workshops that will focus on preparing for and managing an orchard project.
- Date TBC January (10am-2pm) at the National Trust property Cotehele, home of the Mother Orchard.
- Saturday 18th January (10am-2pm) Gillyflower Orchard, Lostwithiel
- Saturday 15th February (10am-2pm) Duchy Orchard in Truro.
Organised in partnership with Resilient Orchards and the National Trust and funded by DEFRA, these events are free to attend
Please get in touch if you would like to register your interest in the Orchard Workshops
Grey Squirrel Management Training
These 3 events are organised by British Red Squirrel and will focus on:
- the ecology of grey and red squirrels
- the reasons for controlling grey squirrels
- the law
- health and safety, monitoring and practical methodology
This course is Lantra accredited.
Please click on the location links below to book:
- Monday 14th October - Lanhydrock (National Trust)
- Friday 18th October - Paradise Park (Hayle)
- Friday 1st November - Pentillie Castle Estate
Each runs from 9.00 to 16.00, and the cost is £36 per person. More details are available on the booking link above. Booking is essential.
We would also like to run some workshops specifically for young people. If you know of a group (for example Young Farmers) who would be interested in:
- learning more about trees
- how they can fit in with current farming activities and encourage nature recovery
- practical tips on how to plant and maintain them
Please get in touch.
One Million Trees!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to planting the Forest for Cornwall. This has now reached an incredible milestone of one million trees!
The forest now spans approximately 1,000 hectares, covering:
- woodlands
- parks
- community spaces
- gardens
- farms
This is not only increasing nature for our residents. It is also playing a crucial role in absorbing CO2 emissions to help slow climate change.
This photo shows Stithians Primary School helping us celebrate in their newly planted mini forest.
At the Royal Cornwall Show 2024
What a fantastic Royal Cornwall Show this year! We were delighted to be involved once again in the Woodlands Area. It gives us a brilliant opportunity to share the great work that you have all been doing. This year we also took part in the Regenerative Farming Hub organised by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Nature Partnership.
Trees for Streets Launch at Camborne GreenFest - Saturday 8th June
Forest for Cornwall was at Green Fest this Saturday to share the news of our new pilot project in Camborne. We are working in partnership with Trees for Streets to increase the number of trees in the town. We will be encouraging everyone to take part by planting a free tree in their garden, or by volunteering to look after the trees on their street. This lovely couple was the first to sign up for a Front Garden Tree. We've selected trees that are suitable for growing in small spaces. They also provide lots of year round interest with blossom, fruit and colourful foliage.
National Hedgerow Week 2024
We celebrated National Hedgerow Week (6th -12th May) by sharing the news of the 8 kilometres of new hedgerow that has been planted this winter. This equals around 40,000 trees.
This video was made by Cornwall Football Golf near St. Austell. Its shows the 2500 hedging trees that they planted in just three days. These hedges will provide wind protection, shelter and perfect conditions for playing. They will also increase biodiversity and help nature recovery.
Other highlights include the 1km of new hedgerow that were planted at Tregerles Farm near Newquay.
Residents of Downderry also got together at Downderry Community Field. There they planted trees to provide boundaries and shelter.
Spotlight on agroforestry
This winter has seen the planting of over 50 hectares of agroforestry projects. These combine tree planting with current farming production. It can be combined with both crops and livestock. It brings many benefits including:
- shade
- shelter
- soil enhancement
- alternative crops
- flood prevention
At the end of March the team held a very popular agroforestry workshop at Rosuick Farm on the Lizard. This is the site for one of the agroforestry pilot projects which is being funded by Defra's Nature for Climate Fund. Many local farmers and producers joined us for the day. It included informative talks from:
- local agroforestry practitioners
- the national leads in agroforestry from the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency
Find out more about the brilliant work of the Community Tree Nurseries
We've captured some of the work of the community tree nurseries that are being supported with the help of the Woodland Trust Emergency Tree Fund. These nurseries are growing trees from locally collected seed with the help of volunteers and community groups. Have a look at these videos to learn more about the work at Bolghen Community Tree Nursery and Kehelland Trust.
Four Fantastic Winners for our new Cornwall Sustainability Award
We have joined up with the Woodland Trust and the Forestry Commission to give a new award at this years' Cornwall Sustainability Awards. The new category is called Growing Greener: Planting Trees in Cornwall. It celebrates the private or community organisation, or landholder that has contributed the most to tree planting in Cornwall this year. The worthy winners were:
- First place: The Grower
- Second place: Arbor Farm
- Third place: Bolghen Community Tree Nursery
- Special commendation: Gaia Trust
Congratulations from all of us for your incredibly hard work, engagement, and innovation. It has made a major contribution to increasing tree canopy across Cornwall.
Thank you also to all the brilliant applicants for this award. The judges had a very difficult time choosing the winners! You can find out more about these fantastic groups and organisations on the following website:
Cornwall Sustainability Awards
Latest Community Projects
Forest for Cornwall has been supporting local communities to plant trees in a variety of different ways. This has been done through the Woodland Trust funded 'Forest for My Place' project. These two new case study videos show the great work that has been happening:
National Plant Health Week
For National Plant Health Week (8 to 14 May) 2023 the team at F4C supported local community and commercial nurseries. Together they supplied healthy trees for local tree planting projects.
Cornwall and the rest of the UK have been badly affected by a number of diseases that affect our favourite trees. This includes:
- phytophora pluvialis affecting Douglas fir and larch in the Glynn Valley
- ash dieback which now affects the whole county
F4C want to reduce the risks of imported and diseased trees being planted. To do this, we are exploring ways we can support businesses and communities to plant healthier tree stock.
We are supporting a number of local commercial tree nurseries with capital grants that will help with biosecurity. This includes the provision of:
- cleaning stations
- quarantine areas
- equipment to help with record keeping and labelling to improve traceability
We are encouraging and supporting these nurseries to apply for Woodland Trust’s UK and Ireland Sourced and Grown status.
You can help! If you go walking in woodlands and green spaces, make sure you clean off wellies and bike tyres to prevent the spread of diseases to new areas. You can also report any health issues to the Forestry Commission’s Tree Alert service. The Observatree site has excellent images and descriptions of pests and diseases to help.
The Cornwall National Landscape (formerly the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) team have produced a fantastic leaflet on the importance of our Cornish hedgerows. It shows how essential they are to our landscape for biodiversity, habitats and shelter.