This year has been a tough year for many but in this ever-changing modern world, there is one thing we need to ensure is keeping up to speed: our battle against climate change.
In alignment with National Tree Planting Week, 28th November – 6th December, here at Take2Adventure we have been very busy planting trees in our woodland to help tackle the many challenges that UK Woodland is facing and the impacts this modern world is having on our environment. We have been able to do this with help from the Rotary Club of Retford and Sustainable Bassetlaw.
Take2Adventure is an outdoor education company based in Retford, Nottinghamshire. We offer bespoke adventure programmes for schools and provide access to adventure for all ages and abilities at our private woodland activity base in Laneham, near Retford. It is here that our tree-planting adventure is taking place. We first took on this five acre woodland almost two years ago and it mainly consisted of Ash, Elm and Elder. Now, as we come to a close on 2020, our woodland has taken on a different shape. Alongside our activity equipment, the wood has now become a haven of new wildlife and plants. In the last year, we have planted over 125 new trees, including many pollinator trees for the bees and butterflies. We strive to keep our woodland natural and introduce only native species.
This winter, we have been honoured to be taking part in Sustainable Bassetlaw’s Tree Planting objectives. Sustainable Bassetlaw are working with the Rotary Club of Retford to commemorate the historic links of the area to the Mayflower Pilgrims of 1620 by seeking to plant 1,620 trees in the Retford area over 2020 and 2021. The tree planting scheme aims to make an increasingly positive contribution to decarbonisation and restore our local environment. The programme is being completed in projects, with ours suitably taking place in National Tree Planting Week, with several Rotarians coming along to help with the planting on Sunday 6th December. All trees are being sourced from local companies, ours coming from Green Mile Trees, Retford. We were gifted 75 trees and chose to plant three native species: Hornbeam, Rowan and Silver Birch. We are confident that this will help diversify our woodland from mature Ash and to tackle ash dieback. Ash dieback is a devastating disease and is estimated to kill around 80% of ash trees across the UK. We hope to avoid total devastation in our woodland by acting now and introducing a wider variety of species. We want to ensure that we are protecting the woodland for future generations, whilst also creating a haven for wildlife. We hope to start to see this in 2021, as we introduce Trail Cams to our woodland to track and record wildlife. Hopefully, the addition of these new trees will attract more wildlife for us to observe and learn about with the children in our activity groups.
This programme is also beneficial to the environment for one big reason: trees are one of our strongest warriors in our fight against climate change. As they grow, trees absorb and store carbon dioxide emissions from the air and release oxygen into the atmosphere. The UK Government has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2050 and in order to do this we need to get 50 million more trees in the ground over the next five years. With our current aims and objectives, and working with other like-minded local people, we are one step closer to achieving this goal and tackling this climate emergency.
Over the coming years, at Take2Adventure, we hope to continue our education work in our woodland. We believe it is of utmost importance to get children outside in nature and for them to learn the importance of trees and woodland. In addition to our popular woodland based activities, we also take our knowledge and practice into local primary schools. We offer a variety of different school programmes, from Residential Camps to After School Clubs, all with the same aim: to capture children’s imagination and spark curiosity in new adventures. Currently, only 10% of our children have access to outdoor learning and that is why our school programmes are so important because we aim to bring the adventure to you! To find out more about how you can get involved with our school programmes, visit our Schools Adventure page.
