Buy a tree for the croft!

We want to plant three shelter belts on our croft of native trees/ shrubs specifically downy birch, common alder, green willow, elder, goat willow and gorse
 
- increase diversity
- provide wildlife habitat
- provide shelter for the sheep
- help with water management
- reduce soil erosion at the coastline
 
There is a distinct lack of trees in our area and increasing tree coverage will substantially help our smaller birds such as starling, dunnock, sparrow and rarer reed birds and tits. The understory of ungrazed grass will then provide habitat for insects of all kinds, small mammals and amphibians. The ungrazed grass then provides a seed bank to spread fresh seeds onto the croft to help grass regeneration.
 
We intend to pair the shelter belts with rotational grazing to try and build up soil depth and quality and increase yield.
 
The trees themselves cost £660
The guards to stop them being eaten by rabbits, mulch mats (organic not plastic) and fertiliser then cost more than the trees! However they will substantially increase survival rates and so hopefully reduce costs later for having to replace trees that didn't make it!
Then it will be around 4 days hard labour digging a mound by hand for each tree (slots are quicker and easier but lead to a lower survival rate as the tree has to break through compacted soil) and then planting them, fitting the guards and mulchmats to reduce grass competition till they are established.
 
The total cost will be around £2500 for the three belts so every tree purchased will help!!
 
Thank you all so much 🥰
 
For purchasing, unfortunately there is no way for me to select free shipping for this one item. If you select collect from store then it won't charge shipping (if you are an international customer, change location to the uk for it to give collect from store option!) or if you are feeling generous then the shipping cost will also go towards buying trees!