The Tree and Wildflower planting group of Sustainable Warminster is called For a Greener Warminster. Our aim is to combat the climate and ecological breakdown, and to make Warminster a greener and healthier place to live in by planting trees, hedgerows and wildflowers, or by letting nature regenerate itself in carefully chosen places. We also aim to preserve our already existing trees and green spaces that provide invaluable habitats for wildlife.

We have been operating since November 2019, when we requested permission from Wiltshire Council to plant 105 trees on the big green field in Portway Lane. We had a promising discussion with the council’s Tree Officer about this project, but unfortunately the official consent has still not been given. Thus we decided to look elsewhere for planting opportunities.

Portway Lane field — There’s plenty of space for new trees on the green field of Portway Lane

We got in touch with the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and had a meeting with the Reserve Manager of Smallbrook Nature Reserve in January 2020. He was very helpful and showed us two compartments in the reserve where he thinks we might be able to plant, possibly next winter.

Part of Smallbrook Nature Reserve — One of the sections of Smallbrook Nature Reserve, where we are planning to plant bigger trees, like oaks

Smallbrook Nature Reserve Orchard — The traditional orchard in Smallbrook Nature Reserve, where we could plant fruit trees

We also had a look around Warminster Common and decided that some hedgerow maintenance was required. Therefore we applied to the Woodland Trust for a free community pack of 420 whips of the Wild Harvest pack, which has since been approved and will arrive in November 2020.

Hedgerows on Common — The hedgerows on the Common need to be made denser and wider, and gaps need to be filled

In an article in Warminster Journal we offered private landowners our services to plant trees for them in their fields free of charge. In case of large-scale planting (500+ trees) the Woodland Trust can offer farmers, landowners, businesses and local authorities funding of up to 100% of saplings, a site visit and tree planting assessment. For further details please visit https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/plant-trees/large-scale-planting/.

Our group has been approached by a private landowner in Warminster who asked for our assistance to plant trees on their Elm Hill field. We visited the site and discussed tree planting with the landowner. We recommended tree types and suggested getting in touch with the Woodland Trust for free saplings. Planting is planned to commence in November 2020.

In January and February 2020 we started four tree nurseries in Warminster to supply us with free saplings of hazel, walnut and oak trees. We are planning to give them away to local residents to plant in their garden and to use them for our own planting projects.

This March we started sowing wildflower seeds on Warminster Common. Our method is very simple: we look for fresh molehills, rake them out flat, scatter a pinch of seeds on them, and then we rake them out again. In this way we hope to have a bigger variety of wildflowers on the Common this summer.

Raked molehill — A molehill that has been planted on

Our group has joined the Blue Campaign to promote the rewilding of our gardens, parks and road verges. A blue heart symbol is staked in the ground over the area being rewilded to communicate to residents that this area was intentionally left to rewild and not because of neglect or laziness. For more information please visit https://bluecampaignhub.com/.