FOREST fans at the Woodland Trust are urging country goers to visit the region’s woods and meadows this summer.
The woodland conservation charity recommends Wheeldon Copse, Alvanley, and Thorn Wood, Weaverham, which have been the focus of a creative conservation and regeneration project.
Site manager Tim Kirwin said: “Wheeldon Copse was the first site nationally where the trust implemented the highly innovative technique of deep ploughing and sowing with wildflowers before tree planning.
“The success of the project has been credited to a new ploughing method whereby soil up to a metre deep is inverted using a special Bovlund plough.
“The plough buries the fertile top layer of soil whilst bringing to the surface the sterile sub-level on which wildflowers thrive.”
Wildflowers play a vital role in creating new woods, helping newly planted woodland become established.
Schoolchildren from Alvanley Primary School sowed wildflower seeds, including poppies and blue cornflowers, in October 2003, at the start of the project.
For more information visit www.woodlandtrust.org.uk.
