Over 1000 hedge plants were planted this year at the Thame skatepark and adjacent triangle. A few ramblers pass by there regularly and are updating us if there are any issues. The plants all seem quite healthy at the moment. They are about 5 hedging varieties of plants like dogrose, hawthorn, blackthorn etc.
A planting party in January resulted in a hedge and 20 staked trees at Queen Elizabeth Circle Recreation Ground. Since then we have had a few issues with hedging being pulled up and tree stakes being disturbed – the volunteer tree maintenance team are trying to keep on top of that. This week we’ve had a very welcome email from a resident backing onto Queen Elizabeth Circle offering to help look after these plantings too – this is great news.
We have had word from a resident of Hamilton Road that the new trees there are budding nicely and she is promising to look after them especially throughout the summer. We also have someone looking to take us up on the installation of a water butt at their house so that they can help water the trees there too – next part of this project is to find an installer.
This year we’ve had an allotment owner taken 100s of Willow hard wood cuttings and planted them out. So hopefully we’ll have a load of free Willows ready for planting out in 2 or 3 years. Another volunteer has potted up a load of acorns – so that’ll be some free oak trees in the next 3 – 4 years.
It’s important for us to consider the longer term supply of trees as well as going out and buying them each year.
We’ve added to a private woodland garden on Thame Park Road this year by taking saplings from a copse in Thame. Thinning out the trees in the copse will be good for the copse and of course provide for a new woodland for our volunteer who will be nurturing her garden anyway.
We were also able to supply trees to replace an Ash woodland at Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve this year which had been decimated by the Ash Dieback disease that is affecting Ash in the UK. It was a pleasure to work with the Conservation Volunteers to plant around 80 new trees there.
So there has been plenty of tree activity this year again.
We already have some plans afoot for next year – working with Thame Town Council to find the suitable areas around Thame for new plantings. We’ll be getting a leaflet out to the residents around the Churchill Cresent play area soon to find out what they would like to see replace the beautiful Black Poplar which came down last year.
We hope everyone will enjoy the new trees in the future.
If anyone sees any problems with the new trees that have been planted please do get in touch with [email protected].
#ThameTrees, a project of 21st Century Thame, can only do it’s work with the help of funding from businesses, volunteers, councils and other environmental organisations. It is all a community collaboration.
