Pioneering tree planting project marks five-year milestone with guided walk

The first tree plant on common land in Wales is celebrating the anniversary of its completion with a guided walk to look back on five years of success.

The Bryn Arw woodland, a low hill on the eastern edge of the Black Mountains, is a primary site for Stump Up for Trees’ mission to plant one million native trees in south east Wales.

Over the last five years, the site has seen over 100 hours of volunteer work, set up annual bird and plant surveys, and proven a working farmed hill can incorporate woodland.

On Friday 3 April, author Rob Penn and Dr Keith Powell, seventh generation Black Mountains farmer, vet and co-founder of Stump Up for Trees, will host a guided walk to celebrate Bryn Arw’s achievements. 

In 2017, Keith set out to plant over 100,000 broadleaf trees on the area at the summit of Bryn Arw, which was covered with deep bracken.

Prior to planting, in 2019, the Bryn Arw Commoners Association secured permission to erect a fence around the land.

The project then secured funding through the Glastir Woodland Creation scheme, and received advice from Coed Cadw on planting trees and protecting existing trees already on the common.

Trees of local seed provenance were acquired from Maelor nursery in Shropshire, part of the ‘UK and Ireland Sourced and Grown’ (UKISG) scheme.

Planting finally began in December 2020 and, thanks to the work of volunteers during Covid-19, was completed in just three months.

In the last five years, Keith and 30 volunteers trained by professional ecologists have carried out regular surveys on Bryn Arw’s bird and butterfly populations, as well as its flora.

 

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Stump Up For Trees is a woodland creation and landscape restoration charity, aiming to plant one million trees in Wales to enhance biodiversity, sequester carbon, provide natural flood management and improve air, soil and water quality.

The charity provides grants and advice to landowners to plant hedgerows, shelterbelts, riparian woodland, new native woodlands and upland wood pasture. 

In 2024, they celebrated the planting of 250,000 trees. The Bryn Arw project provided the charity with essential knowledge to reach this target, including understanding the logistics of planting trees at scale, and working with volunteers during planting and maintenance.

Dr Jenny Knight, General Manager of Stump Up For Trees said: “The climate and biodiversity crises can feel overwhelming to us as individuals. This milestone shows that small individual actions undertaken by our volunteers at a local level can make the difference.”

Working with a community of volunteers aged 8 – 83 years old, the charity has planted trees at over 70 sites in Wales. 

For details of the Bryn Arw guided walk with Robb and Keith, email [email protected]. More information about Stump Up for Trees is available on their site.