Winter 2025 - 26
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
Volunteers needed!
Thinking of volunteers, we will be planting trees in Yeoman's Copse on Saturday 28th February. These will replace some of the dead ash trees there . We have trees provided by Reimagining the Levels to plant - this will be the last planting of the season but if we raise more money there will be more planting to do in the autumn. Meanwhile, other volunteering opportunities are:
Currently: 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
I have previously talked about the Trusthaving bought the adjacent 2 acres of land previously owned by the late Derek Yeomans. There is much more about this in Peter's blog- Yeomans' Copse . The sale has now been completed, with thanks to the Woodland Trust for making the process easy and transferring Derek's bequest to them to CWCT at a very reasonable cost.
Another blog by Peter is available to read: /peter-s-blog/a-mast-year
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 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 will have to be felled. However it is an opportunity to plant some more biodiverse trees, as Dereck only planted oak and ash. We will be discussing the way forward with Reimagining the Levels and preparing for new planting.
Now in the mature woodland keen eyes will spot fungi, always thriving after wet weather. Look on the floor among the leaf litter, on tree trunks or on fallen trees, where they thrive.
Bracket fungi on wood
Ascocornyne - also a wood rotting fungus
Lots more species of fungi to see in winter - if you are walking through the CWCT wood please take some photos and send them to cwctrust@aol.com so we can publish them on the website.
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
Volunteers needed!
Thinking of volunteers, we will be planting trees in Yeoman's Copse on Saturday 28th February. These will replace some of the dead ash trees there . We have trees provided by Reimagining the Levels to plant - this will be the last planting of the season but if we raise more money there will be more planting to do in the autumn. Meanwhile, other volunteering opportunities are:
Currently: 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
I have previously talked about the Trusthaving bought the adjacent 2 acres of land previously owned by the late Derek Yeomans. There is much more about this in Peter's blog- Yeomans' Copse . The sale has now been completed, with thanks to the Woodland Trust for making the process easy and transferring Derek's bequest to them to CWCT at a very reasonable cost.
Another blog by Peter is available to read: /peter-s-blog/a-mast-year
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 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 will have to be felled. However it is an opportunity to plant some more biodiverse trees, as Dereck only planted oak and ash. We will be discussing the way forward with Reimagining the Levels and preparing for new planting.
Now in the mature woodland keen eyes will spot fungi, always thriving after wet weather. Look on the floor among the leaf litter, on tree trunks or on fallen trees, where they thrive.Bracket fungi on woodAscocornyne - also a wood rotting fungusLots more species of fungi to see in winter - if you are walking through the CWCT wood please take some photos and send them to cwctrust@aol.com so we can publish them on the website.
