Forest of Mercia CIC

Happy Bonfire Night!
Jacket spuds and smores went down a treat with the team.

Today our volunteer group cut the reed bed. It's important to cut the reed regularly to prevent natural sucession from drying the beds up and scrubland / woodland taking over. Reeds are very good at filtering pollutants out of water. Which is exactly why ours was built, as the site was originally set up to be a sewage works. Although our reedbed is man made it is still an important habitat. So the plan is to cut it on a 3 year cycle, one third at a time to allow the reed to reach its peak growth whilst also having new growth at the same time. This cycle will also reduce any impact on wildlife and make the workload more manageable for us.

Happy Birthday to our star baker Pat!

We are proud to be one of England's Community Forests and all that we have achieved in the last year.
Work is currently underway on our 5th year of the Trees for Climate scheme. Lets see if we can smash last years records!

Trees for Climate Year 4 in numbers Celebrating the success of the England's Community Forests network over year 4 of the Trees for Climate programme.

This week the volunteer group painted the chainsaw sculptures and decorated Borris the scarecrow ready for Halloween.
Let's see how long it takes Dave to notice we "borrowed" his new bucket. 🎃

We're here every Friday morning so if you would like to get involved please drop us a message at [email protected] for more information.

It was great to meet some potential future foresters today at Royal Forestry Society - RFS careers fair. Also to meet with other foresters & educators striving for the same goals as us.

Lovely to work with The Crafty Gardner team yesterday coppicing willow and weaving plant supports for their community allotment.

We had an amazing bank holiday weekend at Lavvu on the Farm. Met lots of like minded people, discussed tree planting and ran some workshops. Thank you for having us and to everyone that popped by & did some willow weaving / candle making / tree identification.

We will be attending Lavvu on the Farm bushcraft festival this weekend.
If you are attending the festival and would like to join us to make a willow swallow or heart. You can book your place on the Eventbrite link below.
You will need festival tickets to get in. These can also be booked via Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/forest-of-mercia-cic-14623281410

South Staffordshire Council are shining a light on some of the amazing groups working to improve our area. You can catch us at 5.17.

- YouTube Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

Well, we thought we were done planting trees for this season, but when Short Heath Lest We Forget put out a last-minute plea for help to get their memorial orchard in the ground, Kathryn just couldn't help herself. Husband Chris got roped in, too.
Well done to Short Heath Lest We Forget for organising and sorting the funding for this lovely memorial. Also, to all the community involved. It was seriously hard digging!
If you are in the Coppice Farm area and would still like to help out, please give a tree a drink of water. They'll need all the help they can get in this heat.

🌳 Kathryn has been chatting with the Royal Forestry Society - RFS about her career so far. From a student at University of Wolverhampton to director at one of England's Community Forests - Forest of Mercia CIC. 🌳

From Physical Geography Graduate to Director: How I Got Here - Royal Forestry Society Director at Forest of Mercia CIC, Kathryn Lane, answers our questions about how her career led to her current leadership position in one of England's 15 community forests.

Wishing our Director Dave a very happy big birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Becca!