Chardstock Eco Group scoops award for work to protect trees and hedges

Chardstock Eco Group has scooped an award from the Devon Wildlife Trust for its work with trees and hedges. 

The Saving Devon's Treescapes award was established to recognise efforts by local groups, parishes and organisations to make local treescapes within Devon more resilient for the future.  

Chardstock Eco Group has been collaborating with others in the parish to protect trees and hedges. 

The work includes supporting Chardstock Primary School to create a tree nursery within the school grounds so that the children can collect seeds, saplings and suckers from local trees and grown these on – and hopefully one day share the trees back with the community. 

The Eco Group has also organised training for residents so they can carry out hedge surveys. This is part of a wider programme within the parish to equip citizen scientists to monitor and record nature and wildlife.

One project that was specifically highlighted by Devon Wildlife Trust in making the award was a free tree giveaway held earlier in the year. C

hardstock Eco Group combined the free tree hub with a river café, at which it showcased its work with rivers and made the connection between healthy rivers, healthy nature and healthy people.

Vicky Whitworth, chair of Chardstock Eco Group, said: "The Blackdown Hills is a stunning rural landscape notable for its hedgerows and hedge trees. I'm pleased to say that the importance of hedges and hedge trees is now being recognised in terms of the biodiversity they support, and even simple things like providing shade for livestock in our increasingly hot summers. 

"We harbour an ambition to link up with the Great Big Dorset Hedge Project which is a campaign to facilitate the restoration and extension of hedgerows the length and breadth of Dorset. We'd like to extend this concept to create a Great Big Kit Brook Hedge following existing public footpaths along the length of the Kit Brook."

To celebrate receiving the Saving Devon's Treescapes Award, Chardstock Eco Group members took a walk to visit the wildflower meadows on farmland at Alston where they were shown around by farmer Phil Short who talked about his hedgerow management regime on the farm. 

One of the walkers, Gill Keam, said: "The meadow is stunning. There's a wonderful sense of calm. The fields are full of grasshoppers, butterflies, and we saw dragonflies skimming over the newly restored pond. 

"The hedges have been left to grow tall and wide. It was a great privilege to see it."

Vicky Whitworth expressed thanks to Phil Short for inviting the Eco Group to his farm.

She said: "We are hugely grateful to Phil in so many ways. Phil is doing so much good work for the environment and running a successful farm. He's a man who is keen to show people how it is possible to care for nature and produce food. 

"Only a couple of days before our visit he hosted a visit from the East Devon Farmers Group. This is a proactive group of farmers within the East Devon AONB who come together to increase the resilience of nature-friendly sustainable farm businesses, which in turn contribute to a more thriving local economy."