In February 2025 we received delivery of 3,500 trees from the Severn Rivers Trust grant scheme and a further 150 trees from Shropshire County Council. We also had a few trees in pots that we have received as gifts over the last few years.
February is the ideal time to plant as the trees are dormant and the ground is soft. There is usually rain forecast so we don’t need to worry about watering the trees after planting. The trees arrived as a mixture of bare root and cell. We borrowed planting spades from Severn Rivers Trust and the tree guards and canes were purchased using the grant from them.
Rich took a week off work and planted roughly 3,000 trees on his own. The most time consuming aspect was fitting the protection round each tree after planting and carrying the guards and canes around the site. Rich was lucky enough to have a few friends volunteer their services for a day each which really sped things up as one could be planting and another fitting the protection.
On the final day of planting we invited our local friends to come and join us along with 4 friends who drove all the way from Scotland just to help out. After some tuition from Rich on how to plant and protect the trees they were set to work in small groups. We celebrated at the end with hot pasties and cakes from Steele’s Bakery
Struan's Wood 
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