From tiny acorns... you can grow your own small forest

Country Notebook

PEOPLE have many different reasons for planting trees.

Some want a specimen in their garden or on their estate and are happy to plant it, in the expectation that those who come after them will get to enjoy it in all its fully mature glory.

Others want to do their bit for the environment and see tree planting – with the right species in the right place – as one way to help reduce the impact of global warming.

But those who pursue tree planting with the greatest singleminded zeal often have some specific benefits in mind linked to how they use their land.

It is no accident that country estates where country sports have been going on for generations are among the most treecovered pieces of land to be found.

Coverts planted decades ago to hold game birds still dot the countryside today. Game shoots all over the Westcountry often add to their tree cover because woodland is good for game birds and good for the other species that many who own and run shoots want to encourage.

Michael Hockin, who with son Christian runs the Brownstone Manor shoot in South Devon, has turned a largely bare farm into a tree covered oasis for wildlife over the past 25 years.

He has planted around 40,000 trees and earlier this year was adding to that number with 850 more young trees, including oak, beech, silver birch and Monterey Pine, on an area of land that had been used for growing maize.

Buying trees, even as whips or saplings, can be expensive, however, and although there are schemes that enable landowners to offset the costs, not everyone is eligible to apply.

Michael, however, believes there is another way to improve our woodland and has grown hundreds of new trees from seed.

He said: “Acorns, horse chestnuts, sweet chestnuts, even beech mast, can all be planted in pots to make new trees.

“All you have to do is collect them up in the autumn, plant in a pot in compost and then, when they are a few inches high, plant them out.

“We have had great success here at Brownstone and anyone can do it by just picking up the seeds on a country walk in the autumn.”

Trees are one of the reasons many lowland pheasant shoots have been held up as examples of good land use by conservation charities, including the RSPB. Adding to the tree cover is a major aid to conservation.

For more advice go to treecouncil.org.uk