A team of volunteers from across the business travelled from their London base to Warwickshire, home to the Heart of England Forest.  Not afraid to get their hands dirty and armed with wellington boots, the team set out to plant a mixture of native broadleaves including small leaved lime and birch trees, adding another 200 trees to the expanding the 2360 acre woodland.

James Tye, CEO of Dennis Publishing, who joined the planting team said: “It has been a fantastic day – The Heart of England Forest is a charity very close to Dennis Publishing’s heart, and it has been brilliant to see quite how the project is changing the landscape.”

As part of its commitment to the Heart of England Forest charity, one of the Dennis Chosen Charities for 2013, Dennis staff will take part in a number of different activities to help support the charity throughout the year, including planting and maintaining the fledgling saplings.

David Bliss, Trustee of the Heart of England Forest Charity: “Dennis Publishing has been a big supporter for us this year, and to commit themselves to helping us reach our planting target is great. It’s been a challenging planting season for us due to the difficult weather conditions, so having volunteers help us is always welcome. It’s also a chance for us to teach people who wouldn’t ordinarily visit forest about the woodland, the wildlife and how we are working towards achieving our “Impossible Dream”.

The Heart of England Forest Project aims to plant and preserve a large native broadleaf forest in the heart of England in partnership with Warwickshire landowner, Felix Dennis. For more information, go to www.heartofenglandforest.com

-End-

Notes to Editors:

About Dennis CSR

Made up of representatives from around the business who have volunteered their time, the Dennis Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) board is tasked with evaluating the company’s ethical and social responsibilities.
The group’s aim is to embrace corporate accountability for the company’s actions whilst encouraging a positive impact through a variety of activities engaging on a corporate and individual basis with the local community, national charities, and NFP organisations.  CSR related activities will be open to all employees throughout the organisation.

The CSR board is responsible for all the company’s CSR decisions which will focus mainly on three areas; employees and how they can participate, educating and helping the local community and our impact as a company on the environment.

For more information, contact DennisCSR@dennis.co.uk

About the Heart of England Forest Project:

The Heart of England Forest Ltd. Is a UK registered charity founded in April 2003. Its mission is ‘the plantation, re-plantation, conservation and establishment of trees for the benefit of the public, together with the education of the public by the promulgation of knowledge and appreciation of trees’.

The Heart Of England Forest will be hosting a ceremony to plant its millionth tree later this year. The theme will interest any company who believes that involvement with this project is a demonstration of CSR and will make a real difference to shaping our environment here in the
heart of England.

You won’t find “greenwash” in the Heart of England Forest. What you will find is one million trees that contribute to absorbing CO2 and making the planet a greener place. By supporting the Heart of England Forest our corporate sponsors give something back to the environment whilst engaging employees in community involvement.

Dennis Publishing are proud sponsors and plant trees!

We thank the team from Unipart Logistics at Honeybourne Depot for their continuing commitment to planting trees in the Heart of England Forest.

The Stratford-upon-Avon branch of Waitrose has also planted trees as a way of celebrating 75 years in business. This simple way to give back and feel good whilst sponsoring an area of woodland is helping the Heart Of England Forest to build on its success to create a large native forest in the centre of England.

National Grid is sponsoring wildflower meadows under its pylons (where we can’t plant trees) in order to encourage wildlife to thrive and to enhance the biodiversity in a 100 acre wood which is open to the public at any time.

Dennis Publishing is making a significant impact with a major sponsorship programme which includes tree planting trips by their employees.

Online Home Retail has sponsored two large areas of woodland in order to do something for the environment in recognition of their carbon footprint. They also support visits to the forest by schoolchildren from inner city schools to learn about trees and the environment with The Country Trust.

The above is proof, if it were needed, that planting trees has become an enjoyable and environmentally friendly way for companies to give something back to the community recognising their CSR.

For more information about Tree Planting, CSR and the Millionth Tree Planting Ceremony contact carolelongden@heartofenglandforest.com

RIBA Competitions is managing the selection process on behalf of Warwickshire landowner Felix Dennis – who is working in partnership with registered charity The Heart of England Forest Ltd. – to plant and preserve a large native broadleaf forest in the heart of England.

The green burial site seeks to complement this overarching vision via an appropriate development which will provide a reliable source of income, increase rural employment, bio-diversity and public engagement with the landscape.

The  Judging Panel consisted of Felix Dennis and David Bliss (Trustees, The Heart of England Forest Ltd.), Colin Shenton (Shenton Group), with Stephen Hodder Hodder+Partners) acting as the RIBA Architect Adviser.

Practices were asked to
show examples of relevant work from their portfolio, together with outlining their preliminary ideas about the project, and proposed approach to design and site context.

The Panel was delighted by the response to the competition which attracted 94 Expressions of Interest from architects based in the UK and Europe. Panel members were impressed by the range of proposed approaches and the understanding of the subject matter demonstrated within the supporting narrative material. The four short-listed practices [in alphabetical order] are:

• Baumschlager Eberle Hauvette Paris
• Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
• Jonathan Hendry Architects
• Rainey Petrie Architecture

Members of the Judging Panel commented:
‘I was completely astonished by the response of architects to this RIBA competition, not just at the number of entries but the grasp of the necessary details and vision exhibited.’
Felix Dennis

‘The Judging Panel was impressed and excited by the breadth and quality of the 94 submissions; there is a great deal of creativity in the architectural community and matching this to such an unusual brief will produce one of England`s finest new buildings.’
Colin Shenton

‘The competition has been a great success. We are looking forward to seeing the design ideas develop and then working with the eventual winner, the local community and planners to build a structure that will fit perfectly with its surroundings.’
David Bliss

Following more detailed development of the design proposals, the four practices will be invited to present their schemes to the Judging Panel at a final interview to be held in March 2013.

Click to view the original RIBA press release

The heart of England Forest is not only part of an impossible dream which continues to plant and preserve a large native forest in the heart of England, it has provided what can only be described as a beautiful backdrop for our 2013 calendar.

In accordance with our mission to plant, re-plant, conserve and establish more trees for the benefit of the public, we have introduced wooden and canvas hides from which we could photograph many species of woodland and winter migrants, including the Fieldfare and the Kingfisher.

Many weeks went into the making of the calendar that accompanies this ultimate guide on how to capture images of wildlife from our very own forest. Gathering these inspiring images was no small feat and the weeks of hard work certainly paid off. Now you can enjoy these captivating images, which feature in the Calendar, and you can even learn how to photograph wildlife; arguably the most difficult and rewarding form of photography there is.

For more information on how to donate to the trust, please visit our ‘Support Us’ page and to purchase the MagBook, please visit: http://www.magbooks.com/mag-books/digital-photography/the-ultimate-guide-to-wildlife-photography?offercode=25percentoff

How does this affect The Heart of England Forest

The majority of our woodland has less than 10% ash as a component part.  The diverse mixture of native tree species we plant provides a resilient woodland that will still be viable with the loss of a single species.  Of more concern are the woodlands south of the river Avon where the ash is the dominant species, both in our woodlands and the wider landscape.  Here we will have to replace any losses and rethink our species choice for future woodland creation.

We are pleased to say that we have not found any Chalara dieback in our woodlands, but we do have to be vigilant and will continue to monitor.  Although there is certain inevitability that it will sweep through the UK we must be pragmatic and accept this and research ways to counter the threat and seek out resilient ash trees to start a new, healthy cohort to re-establish ash in the landscape.  The radical mass Elm felling was, in hindsight, not the best way to combat the threat from Dutch Elm Disease this indiscriminately took resistant and diseased trees, so drastically reducing natures fight back and our reservoir of resistant trees.  This, thankfully, is not the approach being taken today.

How does this affect you

Currently we do not know of any infected sites near our woodlands in Warwickshire and Worcestershire but for anyone who walks through our woodlands and other woodlands in the area we would recommend  the following simple hygiene regime taken from the Forestry Commission’s website

If you are visiting an infected or suspected wood, please take some simple precautions:

• do not remove any plant material (firewood, sticks, leaves or cuttings) from the woodland;
• where possible, before leaving the woodland, clean soil, mud, leaves and other plant material from footwear, clothing, dogs, horses, the wheels and tyres of bicycles, baby buggies, carriages and other vehicles, and remove any leaves which are sticking to your car;
• before visiting other countryside sites, parks, garden centres and nurseries, thoroughly wash footwear, wheels and tyres in soapy water;
• follow the instructions on any signs.

If you do notice any signs of Ash dieback in our woodlands please contact us and tell us exactly where it was spotted.

The Online Home Retail wood  currently covers  9.11 hectares, with 9839 trees and is planted with oak, ash, aspen, hazel and birch and there is a commitment to  sponsor more woodland as part of an ongoing partnership with the Heart of England Forest.

Carole Longden, Business Development Manager comments, “We are grateful to Scott and the team at Online Home Retail for such generous and ongoing support of tree planting in The Heart of England Forest”

Why not plant trees this year to celebrate or commemorate an event and you will join a growing number of like-minded individuals and companies who want to make a difference and help to increase the woodland cover in the UK.

We will plant trees close to Studley, Warwickshire in 2012 and 2013 and you can become a Friend of The Heart of England Forest and have an area of woodland dedicated to you. Contact carolelongden@heartofenglandforest.com for more information about tree planting.

Dormouse release in The Heart of England Forest

Dormice are being reintroduced in Warwickshire in a bid to boost numbers of the endangered species. The mammals, once widespread across Britain, have seen a 40% decline in the last 20 years, as reported by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES). Nida Al-Fulaij from the conservation charity said the animals were now

rare and vulnerable to extinction.”

Some 34 captive-bred dormice are released into Heart of England Forest woodland. The location has been chosen because of limited human access to the site and the mix of tree species and other habitats.

Stephen Coffey, head forester at The Heart of England Forest, is enthusiastic about the programme,

We are keen to support this important project and wish it every success.”

The woodland is also in an area historically populated by dormice, but which have since died out. The dormice will be introduced in pairs to encourage them to establish colonies. The dormice were captive-bred through the Common Dormouse Captive Breeders Group
and have been checked with vets at the Zoological Society of London and Paignton Zoo in Devon to make sure they were healthy and have the best chance of survival.

The dormice will be released in pairs in their own secure wooden nest box fitted inside a mesh cage secured to woodland trees. This helps them adjust to their new home in the wild. Once the initial relocation has taken place, the dormice will be checked and fed daily in these cages over a two week period to help acclimatise them to their new environment. A small door in each cage is then opened so that the dormice are free to explore their new home whilst having the security of the mesh cage and food if needed. These are eventually removed once the animals have settled into the wood.

More than 635 dormice have been released across 12 English counties over the last 19 years as part of the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme. Survival rates of dormice reintroduced into the wild are extremely high, with dormice from several sites known to have dispersed beyond the woodland in which they were released. Reintroductions are only attempted in areas where historical populations of dormice have gone extinct and are followed by ongoing sympathetic management of the woodland and hedgerows.

The Heart of England Forest is working with a number of conservation groups on the programme including Natural England. Katherine Walsh, Mammal Specialist at Natural England, added,

Dormice are a charismatic, iconic creature of our countryside but their numbers have fallen significantly since the late 19th century. We set up the dormouse recovery project nearly twenty years ago, which has seen dormice return and thrive in many areas of the country where they had become extinct.”

Kirsty Monk with Fungi, King Alfred's Cake and Judas' Ear

The Heart of England Forest (HOEF) is working on a fascinating new partnership project with Oxford University which aims to explore the ecosystem in the forest. The project is known as the “Roots and Shoots Project” as it will investigate signs of and causes of tree growth.

The Heart of England Forest Roots and Shoots Project manager, Kirsty Monk, who is based at Linacre College, Oxford explains that the field study will monitor the fungi in over 40 areas of HOEF woodland. She says that,

The study is very important as it will generate an inventory of fungi at different stand stages and will enable us to identify the most important factors which encourage community establishment.”

Carole Longden, business development manager at The Heart of England Forest is enthusiastic about the partnership and the possible findings from the research. Carole comments,

I had no idea about the diversity of fungi in our forest and the importance of fungus to creating a healthy ecosytem, which in turn encourages our trees to grow and thrive, and provides the wonderful wildlife havens we are now discovering in Warwickshire. I had never even heard of the fungi King Alfred’s Cakes and Judas’ Ear until Kirsty pointed them out to me today. I feel that I have discovered a whole new world!”

The Heart of England Forest Roots and Shoots Project will survey over forty areas of woodland from each of the planting seasons from 1999 to 2012. Six volunteers will spend up to three weeks over the summer using the rapid fungal survey technique and over 225 man hours will be dedicated to the survey alone. The survey team will use the latest GPS technology to assist them as they carry out observations of the native broadleaf woods in The Heart of England Forest.

Felix Dennis, the visionary behind the Heart of England Forest Project is delighted that the Ecosystem Project will provide empirical evidence to help to determine planting and management regimes in the future. Kirsty Monk sums up the Heart of England Forest Roots and Shoots Project,

This is a wonderful opportunity for Oxford University and Linacre College to have access to nearly 2000 acres of Heart of England Forest woodland in which to carry out our research.”

Contact carolelongden@heartofenglandforest.com or 07774 424404 if you would like to volunteer on this project.

The Heart of England Forest Project has surpassed all expectations for 2012, with over 318 acres of trees planted since the year began. And with this rapid rate of sapling planting, the charity is on target to plant its millionth tree before the year is out. Felix Dennis will be pleased!

Along with the hard work of Head Forester Stephen Coffey and his team, the recent wet weather – a misery for most, but great news for the HOEF project – has made ground conditions ideal for sapling planting. As a result, the project has already surpassed the number of acres planted in 2010, and will easily leapfrog the landmark planting figure of 325 acres achieved in 2011.

Since 2012 got underway, 145,000 trees have been planted in order to create 318 acres of native broadleaved woodland, bringing the total number of trees planted since 1996 to 974,600. This means a staggering total of 2193 acres of new woodland has now been created in the name of the Heart of England Forest Project.

“Before we plant our millionth sapling, we have a lot of hard work to do maintaining the trees already planted, looking after our tree nursery – the seeds have just been sown – and felling conifers in some of our ancient woodland sites,” says Head Forester Stephen Coffey.

“In addition, we have to preparing for the planting next winter,” he added.

If all that wasn’t enough, the charity has also introduced 6000 native broadleaves to Coughton Park Wood, to replace the conifers felled in 2011. This is the beginning of the project’s move to convert the woodland area from a commercial conifer plantation to a native broadleaved woodland complete with bluebells.

There’s a lot more hard work that needs to be done between now and the end of this year, but keep coming back to the Heart of England Forest’s website for further updates on the charity’s progress towards planting its millionth tree.