First nursery trees take root at new home in St. Asaph

A new nature reserve has welcomed the first roots of a unique woodland.

Ysgol Esgob Morgan pupils helped make history at the Green Gates Nature Reserve by rolling up their sleeves to take part in tree planting.

This is part of the ongoing works to create a nature reserve at Green Gates, St Asaph, which will eventually grow into a 70-acre site supporting local biodiversity.

And trees grown from locally sourced seeds in the county are taking root in their new home.

All of the trees planted come from the local provenance tree nursery on the Green Gates site which aims to produce over 5,000 trees and 5,000 wildflowers a year to help boost local habitats.

Trees grown in the nursery, including Oak, Alder, Willow, Silver Birch, along with some of the rarer Wild Service and Spindle are the first to be planted back out by the pupils on local ground with the help of the Council’s Biodiversity Team.

Volunteers supported by the North Wales Wildlife Trust, nursery volunteers and Working Denbighshire are also joining with the Biodiversity Team to provide the trees with their new home on the doorstep of where they grew.

Eventually over 4000 trees will be planted in this woodland area on the site. Further tree planting is also set to take place on other site areas.

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport said, “We are really pleased that local school children have helped plant the roots of what will be a fantastic asset for local nature right on their own doorstep.

“It’s also great that the trees grown in our tree nursery at St Asaph are able to be used at this reserve. Our volunteers and Biodiversity Team have worked hard to source and grow these trees at the nursery and this will be a massive help with reducing carbon across the county to tackle the climate emergency and help support nature’s recovery.”

The nature reserve development is part of the Council’s response to protect and restore local nature habitats to contribute to the nature recovery goal.

Other work will see existing ponds restored, the creation of new ponds, the development of a wetland area adjacent to two small watercourses and creation of woodland, scrub and grassland habitat areas.

A new brownfield site will be developed and will help to support a variety of rare and important wildlife – such as insects and wildflowers, and a new wildlife barn will be constructed to support roosting bats and nesting birds. The site has also been identified by Natural Resources Wales as a potential Site of Special Scientific Interest for great crested newts.

An accessible permissive pathway will be created to allow local residents to visit the site and a raised viewing area will also be developed.

This work is funded by UK Government grant funding. Additional funding has also been provided from Denbighshire’s Climate and Nature Recovery Programme. Work at the tree nursery I supported by the Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project.