Eastham Country Park

Community work together to introduce more trees to popular country park

The Mersey Forest

Trees for Climate, Year 4

A popular country park in Wirral has benefitted from a new section of woodland being planted on the site this planting season, thanks to funding through the Trees for Climate programme and the help of the local community.

The Wirral Council owned site is situated next to the River Mersey and covers 40 hectares in total. The benefits to the area include:

• 2,725 native broadleaf trees being planted.
• Creating 1.73ha of new woodland.
• Expected to capture 381 tonnes of carbon once fully established.
• Boosting biodiversity in the area.
• Providing the local community with access to nature.

We thought we’d do our bit by coming along to the tree planting, so when Matilda, my daughter, comes down with her children in the future she can see the trees that we planted and see how we did our bit for the environment

Local resident

Summary

The Mersey Forest has worked closely with Wirral Council over a number of years to introduce more trees in parks and greenspaces in the area, contributing to the Council’s plan to double tree cover in the borough. This planting season we’ve supported them to increase tree cover at Eastham Country Park, located in the South East of the borough.

The park already has lots of ancient semi-natural woodland on the site and the new planting is helping to extend this, making the ancient woodland more resilient to hazards such as storms and pests and diseases. We’ve also increased the number of tree species on this site planting a mix of trees such as oak, silver birch, field maple and rowan alongside some shrubs including hazel, hawthorn and dogwood.

This new woodland will provide excellent habitat for the native wildlife in the area, providing wildlife corridors for them to move between the existing woodlands in the area.

A community planting day was held on a Saturday in February so that the local community could play their part in developing this much-loved site. Around 40 people helped out on the day, getting the thousands of trees in the ground with the support of Wirral Council’s Senior Trees and Woodland Manager and The Mersey Forest’s Woodland Advisor

Impacts

Natural flood management and water quality:

The additional woodland planted will help to provide some element of natural flood management, helping water to penetrate deeper into the soil and providing more water storage in the soil.

Public access and management:

The public will have access to the new woodland and there have been paths created throughout the design to encourage people to walk amongst it.

Enhancing wildlife:

The new woodland is helping to create more wildlife corridors on the site, providing a habitat for local wildlife to live and move between the ancient semi natural woodland in the area.

Contribution to Net Zero:

Expected to capture 381 tonnes of carbon once fully established.

Engagement, health and wellbeing:

Wirral Council run regular tree maintenance sessions in their parks, providing the local community with the chance to get outside and take some gentle exercise whilst caring from their local trees.