New woodland created at Spade Mill Reservoir

A brand-new woodland has been planted at Preston’s Spade Mill Reservoir more than 8,500 trees being planted in just six days.

A mixture of native trees and shrubs including Oak, Downy Birch, Hawthorn, Hornbeam, White Willow, Blackthorn and Scots Pine have been planted on a six-hectacre site adjacent to the reservoir.

Funded through the Forestry Commission’s England Woodland Creation Offer, the new woodland has been created as part of United Utilities’ pledge to plant one million trees by 2030.

The water company has already planted more than 220,000 trees and plans to add more than 45,000 more during the current tree planting season.

The project has been overseen by United Utilities’ Woodland Project Officer Michael Bullivant who said: “This piece of land sits alongside an existing woodland which is mainly made up of coniferous trees. There are buzzards nesting there already and by introducing new tree species we hope to increase the biodiversity and create more habitat fort different species, especially woodland birds.

The new woodland will also play an important role in improving water quality by stabilising the embankment and reducing run-off from the land into the reservoir.

Michael added: “It is incredible to see a whopping 8,659 young trees planted in such a short space of time and I’m looking forward to seeing them maturing and attracting even more wildlife to the area.”