The photo shows new and old plantations side by side
The Estate has always been committed to conservation and wildlife. This commitment has been rewarded in recent years. In 1997 one of the Estate Farms was awarded the FWAG Silver Lapwing award for wildlife conservation and in 2000 Lanhydrock Farms came second in the national conservation and wildlife awards. In 1997 Lanhydrock Farms commissioned an extensive FWAG report.
The brief was to identify areas of land with low agricultural value which could be enhanced to the benefit of wildlife; this was to be achieved primarily by means of habitat creation and the establishment of wildlife corridors. Using the report as a basis for improvements ponds were created and several thousand native trees have been planted over the past 15 years. The ponds are now well established and some of the tree planting sites are undergoing their first thinning.
This process creates open ground encouraging woodland flora and temporarily relieves competition for the healthiest trees, encouraging their healthy establishment. The species of trees planted have been tailored to each individual site; this is done for two reasons; one being a desire to establish natural and healthy native woodlands; two looking at the long term management of the woodlands and the utilization of woodland related products.
Lanhydrock Estate’s Steward Rob Thompson manages the woodland and the trees that are felled during the thinning programme are made into logs and charcoal which the Estate are planning to market as a sustainable source of fuel. The tree planting scheme is continuing with the emphasis on creating wildlife corridors by linking up and increasing parts of the Lanhydrock Estate’s original woodland.
