On 22 January a team of nine volunteers from SPL Powerlines UK joined Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (DWT) to support landscape recovery in the Derwent Valley. Together we helped establish one hectare of new habitat that will benefit local wildlife for many years to come.
Our volunteers planted an estimated seven hundred trees to create three carefully selected habitat types. These included wet woodland, base rich woodland and a scrub layer. Each habitat brings its own value to biodiversity. Wet woodland supports species that thrive in damp conditions. Base rich woodland provides a home for plants and animals that prefer nutrient rich soils. The scrub layer offers a dense low growing thicket that acts as a natural transition between open grassland and developing woodland. This layered approach increases the variety of habitats and improves the resilience of the site.
The range of species planted reflects this diversity. Wet woodland areas included alder, downy birch, silver birch, goat willow and grey willow. Base rich woodland areas were planted with oak, hazel, wild cherry, silver birch, aspen and crab apple. The scrub areas featured hawthorn, blackthorn and alder buckthorn. These species were selected by the DWT team based on ground conditions and long-term ecological benefit.
In total the full planting session took around three and a half hours from start to finish. It was a hands-on day, extremely wet and cold but a great reminder of the positive impact that practical conservation can have. For SPL Powerlines it also underlines the importance of our partnership with the DWT that supports protecting and restoring our natural environment.
DWT plays a vital role in enhancing local landscapes, tackling biodiversity loss and increasing climate resilience. By supporting their work, we help ensure that the region continues to benefit from thriving habitats, improved air quality and healthier ecosystems. As a company we are committed to contributing to sustainability in a meaningful way and volunteering days like this allow our team members to make a direct difference.
Our Environmental Manager, Emily Spencer said, ‘SPL Powerlines is proud to support DWT and their important work across the region. We donate the cost of planting a tree for every health, safety and positive feedback note our staff submit, so it was great for us to get out (in the rain) and help turn these donations into actual trees in the ground creating valuable developing habitats.’
Our Managing Director, Günter Kielmayer said, “We are extremely happy to support the DWT as it combines our strive for improving our safety behaviours and our responsibility to make a difference to the environment. For every observation/improvement note raised from one of our employees we plant a tree. We have implemented this “awarding system” as it is very important for us to have a positive impact to our environment and DWT definitely does exactly this. Actions speak louder than words. ONE TEAM. ONE VISION. ONE GOAL.”
We are proud of the contribution our volunteers made and look forward to building on our partnership with the DWT in future projects.
Having the generous support of SPL Powerlines and our other corporate sponsors plays a vital role in helping us to create a Wilder Derbyshire and tree planting is just one of the many ways that corporates can support Nature’s recovery. A huge thank you to SPL for volunteering their time to support Landscape Recovery in the Derwent Valley on a rather wet and windy day!
