Spring 2026
Donations will be very gratefully received!
We have been accepted into the Aviva Community Fund, which partners with Crowdfunder to match funds donated up to £250. If we can secure small donations that together add up to £250 Aviva will donate another £250. We can also claim gift aid on the small donations. There are so many things that require money just now - our application to the fund is for "project funds" , ie. spending on new things, but there are ongoing maintenance costs to be met - insurance, hedge laying and trimming, tree felling etc. Our volunteers do much for no financial reward but are not able to do everything needed !
The link below will take you to our Crowdfunder page. Remember a pledge of £10 will mean we get £20!
https://communitiesfund.avivafoundation.org.uk/p/replanting-yeomans-copse
Clearing and planting Yeoman's Copse - Peter's thoughts!
A proverb, attributed to the ancient Greeks, is that a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit under. That’s what happened on 28th February in Curry Woods.
Just before that day we were very busy clearing Yeoman's copse of dead ash trees with Cyril, Guy and Jeremy doing most of the logging and shredding. Great job, the team can be seen with their trustee machine in the photo below.
The clearing team
Volunteers at work
Many thanks go to Kate Towers from Reimagining the Levels for organising such an excellent and experienced team. This included a group of students from Millfield school who were less experienced but got a flavour of the project and the challenge climate change is bringing to the Somerset moors. After a morning’s hard work a break for hot drinks and cakes in a nearby garage was well deserved before it was back to it until the planting and mulching was completed.
The break!
Taking part in the national butterfly survey. We have a walk designated which will become a transect from April to September. It starts by going round the Trust land and then winds its way into the village. It has to be walked once a week by at least one person from the group, recording the butterflies seen along the transect on the spreadsheet provided, using the identification chart which is also provided. We are walking the route with volunteers from now on and full training will be provided by an expert. Other transects are being set up to the south of the A378.
Peter's most recent blog explains more: /peter-s-blog/so-you-think-you-know-your-butterflies
Our AGM in January was a great success though, as usual, we wished more people had attended. Surely there are younger people who are interested in environmental matters? I appreciate working people are busy but those of us who are now retired but managed to volunteer and be interested in the wider world when we were working can't understand why the audience at our meeting s is always made up of ( all be it lovely) retirees? Rant over! Those present heard an excellent talk by Fred Giles of RoAM (more about that in the minutes)
The minutes are available here:
/agm-report-jan-2026
The trees planted in 2021-4 are now generally doing well and the survival rate is high inspite of the extremely dry summer. Our main problem has been ants - they love to make their nests in the tree guards, carrying large amounts of soil up the tubes and killing the saplings if it is not removed. We have been taking off these guards and those on trees which are well established as they can become more of a problem than an advantage after a while! There are still guard round some of the surviving trees in Yeoman's Copse and we have been removing those too. Sadly most of the ash trees Dereck planted about 20 years ago have suffered and died from die-back and have now been felled as descried above. However, looking on the bight side, as Dereck only planted oak and ash having to clear the land has made room for our new more diverse planting. Tree and shrub names are on the guards so it is possible to see the range planted or we can supply a list of species on request.
We have been accepted into the Aviva Community Fund, which partners with Crowdfunder to match funds donated up to £250. If we can secure small donations that together add up to £250 Aviva will donate another £250. We can also claim gift aid on the small donations. There are so many things that require money just now - our application to the fund is for "project funds" , ie. spending on new things, but there are ongoing maintenance costs to be met - insurance, hedge laying and trimming, tree felling etc. Our volunteers do much for no financial reward but are not able to do everything needed !
The link below will take you to our Crowdfunder page. Remember a pledge of £10 will mean we get £20!
https://communitiesfund.avivafoundation.org.uk/p/replanting-yeomans-copse
Clearing and planting Yeoman's Copse - Peter's thoughts!
A proverb, attributed to the ancient Greeks, is that a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit under. That’s what happened on 28th February in Curry Woods.
Just before that day we were very busy clearing Yeoman's copse of dead ash trees with Cyril, Guy and Jeremy doing most of the logging and shredding. Great job, the team can be seen with their trustee machine in the photo below.
The clearing team
Result! The cleared land
Volunteers at workMany thanks go to Kate Towers from Reimagining the Levels for organising such an excellent and experienced team. This included a group of students from Millfield school who were less experienced but got a flavour of the project and the challenge climate change is bringing to the Somerset moors. After a morning’s hard work a break for hot drinks and cakes in a nearby garage was well deserved before it was back to it until the planting and mulching was completed.
The break!Many, many thanks to all the volunteers who gave up their time to support us here in Curry Woods Conservation Trust. There are still many jobs for volunteers if you are interested, including checking and recording trees after the winter on our more established area and getting involved in the butterfly survey I mentioned in an earlier blog./peter-s-blog/so-you-think-you-know-your-butterflies Please get in contact, either through our website (Currywoodsconservationtrust.com), email (cwctrust@aol.com) or by phoning 07903030533. We would love to hear from you!
Current jobs: gathering up the many stakes and guards that are lying on the ground - they need to be tied together and stored in the shed below the water tanks.
April onwards: Surveying the trees from previous plantings to see how many, of which species, have survived.Taking part in the national butterfly survey. We have a walk designated which will become a transect from April to September. It starts by going round the Trust land and then winds its way into the village. It has to be walked once a week by at least one person from the group, recording the butterflies seen along the transect on the spreadsheet provided, using the identification chart which is also provided. We are walking the route with volunteers from now on and full training will be provided by an expert. Other transects are being set up to the south of the A378.
Peter's most recent blog explains more: /peter-s-blog/so-you-think-you-know-your-butterflies
Our AGM in January was a great success though, as usual, we wished more people had attended. Surely there are younger people who are interested in environmental matters? I appreciate working people are busy but those of us who are now retired but managed to volunteer and be interested in the wider world when we were working can't understand why the audience at our meeting s is always made up of ( all be it lovely) retirees? Rant over! Those present heard an excellent talk by Fred Giles of RoAM (more about that in the minutes)
The minutes are available here:
/agm-report-jan-2026
The trees planted in 2021-4 are now generally doing well and the survival rate is high inspite of the extremely dry summer. Our main problem has been ants - they love to make their nests in the tree guards, carrying large amounts of soil up the tubes and killing the saplings if it is not removed. We have been taking off these guards and those on trees which are well established as they can become more of a problem than an advantage after a while! There are still guard round some of the surviving trees in Yeoman's Copse and we have been removing those too. Sadly most of the ash trees Dereck planted about 20 years ago have suffered and died from die-back and have now been felled as descried above. However, looking on the bight side, as Dereck only planted oak and ash having to clear the land has made room for our new more diverse planting. Tree and shrub names are on the guards so it is possible to see the range planted or we can supply a list of species on request.
