The Rochester Bridge Trust has planted a new five-acre area of woodland as part of its commitment to improving the natural environment and sequestering carbon emissions around its landholdings near Farnley Tyas.
The medieval charity purchased around 300 acres of land in 2018 as part of its investment strategy to generate income to maintain the major bridges it owns over the River Medway in Kent.
Nearly 4,800 trees – a mix of oak, beech, sweet chestnut, silver birch, holly and hazel – have been planted in two blocks adjoining existing woodland, creating a larger and more concentrated wooded area.
The Trust anticipates the new trees will help to offset carbon emissions arising from the construction of new houses on land previously within its ownership at Yew Tree Farm.
Tim Cathcart, Chief Estates Officer at the Trust, explained: “The layout of the new woodland has also provided an opportunity to protect some existing slopes of important and ecologically diverse acid grassland. The new trees are visible from the public footpath and the site will make a positive contribution to local ecology in the decades to come. There is no public access which will help to ensure the saplings are able to grow undisturbed while the new habitat becomes established.”
The young trees are protected from deer and other browsing animals using guards which will be collected and re-used when the trees have become established fully.