With spades in hand, fifty volunteers descended into the beautiful valley of High Borrowdale this week to take part in our Fell Care Force Tree Planting Day.

5,200 native trees are being planted on our land at High Borrowdale which is now within the newly extended area of the Lake District National Park.

Volunteers set about the task of creating an area of native woodland in the valley Alfred Wainwright once described as “the most beautiful valley outside the Lake District”.

It is hoped that the planting of hardy native tree varieties like alder, ash, oak, rowan, holly, hawthorn, and willow will enhance the habitats and landscape as well as assisting in stabilising erosion. This area witnessed numerous landslides during the storms of December 2015.

Ruth Kirk, Fell Care Project Officer,

“We are so grateful to all of the volunteers who gave up their spare time to help us with our tree planting task. Their efforts saw over 600 trees planted on the day which is a wonderful contribution to our target of 5,200 trees.

“We’d also like to thank a couple of local businesses for their support on the day. The Ambleside Hotel gave staff the opportunity to come along and help us with planting and Kendal Caravans were brilliant, providing parking for volunteers’ vehicles and hot drinks at the end of the day.”

If you’d like to visit High Borrowdale and help with tree planting, you’ll find more volunteering dates listed here: www.friendsofthelakedistrict.org.uk/Pages/FAQs/Category/volunteer-work-party-dates

You may also like to read an online Blog written by one of our volunteers, Mary Breakell. Follow the link to read more about Volunteering on High Borrowdale and 'The Hill of a Thousand Voles'... https://gardenblogmary.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/2016-17-high-borrowdale-tree-planting.html

See photos of the day on our Facebook page here.