Today we celebrated Tree Week in Highters Heath, with Highters Heath Community School and the Friends of Daisy Farm Park. We worked with the new friends group and school earlier this year to plant trees, and now we are back for more!
Despite the soggy weather, the wonderful group of prefects from the local school came with smiles on their faces, to plant trees with the TreePeople on Maypole Grove this morning. Charley, the Communications Officer, met the teachers and pupils at the school, enjoying a nice community walk to the planting location. There they met Ian McDermott and Julianne Statham, BTP Trustees, and the Woodland Team’s Leon and Nick, ready for planting the new gingko trees.
Mac told the children about the special tree, thought to be extinct but is now planted globally, the Gingko Biloba or Maindenhair Tree. Splitting into two groups of girls versus boys – because at this age we still have cooties – the teams set about who could plant the tree quicker, but in the end, they were evenly matched! The adults helped the two teams and taught the kids how to plant the trees from hole to stake ties; they were true naturals and grubby from all the hard work when we were finished.
The full team with grubby hands! All photos taken with permissions.
Birmingham TreePeople would like to thank Highters Heath Community School for participating in this tree planting with us, as well as Steve Anderson from Friends of Daisy Farm Park, and of course Mac, Julianne, and the Woodland team for all the help and fun we had planting trees!
On the 2nd December 2023, the Friends of Hodge Hill Common and Birmingham TreePeople teamed up to plant a new tree on Coleshill Road. We planted a beautiful semi-mature tree for Tree Week, even though the winter frost had just set in!
Simon Needle transported the new sweet gum to the planting location using the Treeycycle. This is a low emission electric bike that kept the carbon footprint of the tree even lower! BTP and FOHHC spent a sweet and frosty afternoon working together to put a new tree in the ground, that will grow with vivid colours.
The event garnered many member of the friends group, members of BTP, and the general public. We pulled together to have a go at digging the planting hole, but the children really got stuck in! Lisa Hodge welcomed the tree with a mindful welcoming ceremony with the group, becoming one with the tree. After which the children showed us old’ens how it’s done by back-filling the hole!
Katy Hawkins gave an informative and creative talk about the benefits and characteristics of the liquidambar, passing a leaf around for everyone to smell the sweet scent of the sweet gum. She ended by giving everyone a scroll to remember to come back and water the tree. Watering our trees, taking care of them, is just as important as planting them. We hope that Hodge Hill enjoys and cares for the new piece of nature on their doorstep.
Thank you to Urfaan and Genny, who organised the refreshments, Katy and Lisa for hosting the ritual, and Simon and Tonia for transporting the tree and equipment. A HUGE thanks to everyone who attended the event; we hope you loved it as much as we did. What a lovely day to remember!
Two Trees for Cities employees, planting trees for Tree Week.
Trees for Cities, the facilitator for this year’s National Tree Week tree planting, joined the BTP and BCC teams on 28th November, to green up Newtown in Birmingham.
Mac, Steve, and Julianne, three of BTP’s Trustees, assisted the BCC Woodland and City Parks teams, helping the T4C corporate volunteers put the new trees in the ground. The Woodland team marked out the eight sites and provided tools. Four T4C employees, from all over the country, turned up and dug their hearts out. One of the trees, a London Plane or Platanus Orientalis ‘Minaret’, was damaged and replaced free of charge!
Steve arriving on his bikeT4C getting ready for plantingMac with a broken platanus tip
Planting brings many benefits…
Newtown is one of our target, low canopy, priority wards. Thanks to the planting of these trees, the area will receive new benefits from them. Trees filter air pollution, provide shade and biodiversity, as well as protection from storm water. Planting these trees will contribute long-term to the Urban Forest Master Plan, and the Urban Forest Accelerator projects.
Mac chatting away with the Trees for Cities volunteers, supervising the hole digging. This is to ensure the correct depth in relation to the tree. If we plant these trees well, they will flourish in the years to come.
Here we see the city parks team digging with T4C, preparing the holes for the semi-mature trees going in. The trees are being protected by stakes and metal mesh cages, to prevent extensive vandalism.
It was a truly lovely morning planting trees in Newtown with several partners involved. We would like to thank the Woodland and City Parks teams, the Trees for Cities volunteers, and also Julianne who provided these images and videos. We look forward to more tree planting throughout Tree Week 2023!
Ian McDermott and Julianne Statham of BTP met Barcham, Kier and City Parks to unload our selection of trees, protective stakes, and cages for the tree planting season and Tree Week, due to take place next Monday 27th for two weeks. We will be working with BCC and many community groups to get the trees in the ground. Many thanks to all who helped unload these trees, preparing us for the upcoming planting celebrations.
Birmingham ward, Hodge Hill, will have a tree planted transported via Treecycle
What is the Urban Forest Accelerator?
The Urban Forest Accelerator is a partnership project focusing on the urban forest. National Trust, Woodland Trust, and Community Forest Trust currently support a range of Councils and diverse communities with significant urban green estates, with high potential to increase trees and woods that enhance existing heritage and create new urban landscape with cultural value. The project is designed to respond to Council and communal needs, by improving urban green-space through the encouragement of tree planting, communications, and community engagement.
Birmingham TreePeople, alongside Birmingham City Council, have been the propagators of this programme within the City of Birmingham, using the city as a preliminary case study that coincides with the implementation of the Urban Forest Master Plan, another project focusing on the increase of ward-level canopy cover to improve the health and well-being of residents.
Community Focus
Due to the Urban Forest Accelerator’s focus on community and residential involvement, Heritage Fund provided the finances for the project, and for BTP to garner to employees to enact Communications and Engagement, something rare for a charity to obtain. BTP, with its humble origins in the Tree Warden Scheme by BCC in 2016, to achieving the city’s status as Tree City in 2019, completing this year’s iTree Eco survey in record time, the non-profit organisation that prioritises the urban forest has grown from strength to strength, establishing one the largest volunteer networks in the UK.
Since the posts have been filled for the Urban Forest Accelerator, work began diligently and delicately establishing bonds in priority wards with low canopy cover, working with friends and residential groups, officers, and green champions to bring the community together and raise the awareness and benefits of trees before the planting season. Leading us to diversely well-attended local tree walk events in partnership with groups such as Nechells POD, and Friends of Hodge Hill Common, the latter whom have been working with BTP to establish a ceremonial planting day for their new sweet gum (liquidambar) tree in Hodge Hill on the 2nd December.
Planting in Hodge Hill for the Urban Forest Accelerator
Coinciding perfectly with Tree Week, the tree planting celebrations won’t begin without the BTP Chair, Tonia Clark, riding the collectively nicknamed ‘Treecycle’ – a bicycle/basket transportation – from the tree’s storage location to the planting location, further lowering the tree’s carbon emissions through this method of transference. The myriad of benefits that just one tree can make will not only be celebrated with a tree-lowering ceremony, carrying over the theme of mindfulness and connection with nature from the Creative Tree Walk on 18th November, providing the residents with a form of social prescribing to improve mental and physical health, but also through the theme of sustainability with the use of the Treecycle, which all participants in the event are excited for its quirky and wholesome debut.
There will be many community-involved tree planting activities running from Tree Week through to January, and the Hodge Hill planting will take place at 14:30 until 15:30, where there will be the tree planting ceremony followed by refreshments for the residents and groups in attendance. Through these kinds of deeper bonds in the city ward’s, the trees that are planted will receive the love and care they have so-longed deserved, and through the Urban Forest Accelerator and UFMP programmes, Birmingham will continue to grow greener and sturdier, one ward at a time.
Manor Park Farm’s orchard pruning volunteering session had a wonderful turnout. We met on a pleasant morning at the farm, at the invitation of their friends group. We had been asked to lend a hand, pruning some trees in the orchard, and removing dead ones.
Nina Griffiths, BTP Trustee in charge of Street Trees, and member of the Friends of Manor Farm Park, leads the pruning volunteers in the session.
The day was led by BTP stalwart and Trustee Nina Griffiths, who talked the group through the day’s activities, and supplied everyone with a work plan for the day, very impressive. A dozen TreePeople, including two new attendees, soon got stuck into the work and within a couple of hours we had finished! This provided the opportunity to walk back through the park, to enjoy the splendid tree collection, followed by coffee and cake at the end – a great end to a great day out.
Ian McDermott, Trustee, Trainer, and Arboriculturalist
A lesson here during pruning training: how not to mulch!
Would you like to join Manor Park Farm Friends for one of their regular volunteering sessions caring for the park? The remaining 2023 sessions are on 3rd and 16th December. Contact them for more details. They meet in the carpark at 10.30, but under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.
Our next free training session will be on Saturday 16th December, 10am until 12pm. We will be learning more about conifer identification at Highbury Park, with the Highbury Park Friends group.
We’ll meet at the Shutcock Lane car park. The What Three Words for the car park are ///into.under.having.
These events are open to all, so please let others know if you think they will be interested, and bring your friends and family. This event will be outdoors and on uneven terrain, so please dress appropriately.
Now that planting season is upon us and Tree Week approaches, we are focusing our attention on five low-canopy cover wards in Birmingham. This will take place throughout the last week of November and the first week of December. These wards are Nechells, Bromford and Hodge Hill (under the Heritage Fund grant for the UFA project), and Newtown and Highters Heath (under the Trees for Cities grant).
We want to raise awareness of the myriad benefits of existing and future trees, parks, and green spaces. That’s why we are currently seeking local figures, Green Champions, and environmental or well-being groups to plant with us. If you are interested in the upcoming planting and Tree Week celebrations, please contact us and get involved.
Our charity wants to cultivate community relationships, with our vast and growing network of urban forest volunteers. This is to carry forward residential involvement in specific ward-level planting and maintenance, and draw attention to the health and welfare aspect – through the exploration of social prescribing – that nature provides us.
The new trees will contribute towards Birmingham’s long-term goals for increasing canopy cover under the Urban Forest Master Plan, and the Urban Forest Accelerator. Our great Tree City keeps growing and giving every day, through a nurturing, mutual relationship with nature. This is what makes Birmingham beautiful.
Hodge Hill Common Tree Walk
The Tree Walk on the 18th saw us teaming up with Friends of Hodge Hill Common. Katy, Lisa and Genny lead an enthusiastic and diverse group of local residents around the Common. We identified trees, their myths, and remained mindful around nature.
Mindfulness around Hodge Hill Common amongst the trees was a great success, run through Friends of Hodge Hill Common and Birmingham TreePeople. We explored various trees and engaged with texture, sound, colour, and appearance. It was great to find out more about them, and practice mindfulness amongst the sounds of the trees.
Lisa Hodge, FOHHC
The session began with grounding mindfulness amongst the sycamores. We discovered mushroom rings of clouded funnel in the autumn foliage. The group discussed the silver birch’s ‘hisstling’ (thank you Lisa) sounds, and the defensive adaptation of holly’s spiky leaves. We took photos and talked about the vibrancy of colour in the autumn leaves. One walker recalled the planting, fifty years ago, of the golden teardrop hornbeams. We wrote a group poem about the unusual shapes of nature we took notice of. Attendees formed a circle and chanted for the revival of the ash trees, due to dieback and the borer, like rainmaker ceremonies of old. Walkers felt the textured leaf of an elm, and truly connected creatively and imaginatively with the nature on our urban doorsteps.
We were also joined by Sima, from Birmingham Open Spaces Forum. She filmed the experience of the Tree Walk, spoke to some of the tree walkers and FOHHC about the event, and what volunteering means to us all. Many thanks for documenting the wonderful day.
The group of adults and children went back to Genny’s house, member of FOHHC, who kindly hosted with leafy teas, coffee, cake, and samosas. This was whilst Katy discussed the local planting initiative with the residents, where a unanimous decision of species was made.
Final Words
We wanted to thank all those who attended the Tree Walk and becoming a part of nature. This event was under the Urban Forest Accelerator project that will increase the cities canopy cover. A huge thanks to Katy from BTP and Lisa, Genny, and other members of the FOHHC for a warm, welcoming, riveting day. We look forward to the next one, and planting trees in Hodge Hill!
Ian ‘Mac’ McDermott will give a tree talk to Calthorpe Residents Society (CRS), in an upcoming closed event on 29th November, focusing on residential properties.
“Mac The Tree” is a well known ‘Brummie’ tree expert with an extensive, highly trained background in arboriculture. With an overall theme of tree management, Mac will address the practical issues of tree selection. This will include domestic pruning, property obligations, legal aspects, and watching local building developments.
The Calthorpe Estate is complex with many TPO trees. It is a major conservation area, boasting significant green infrastructure, and the Edgbaston brand.
The Calthorpe Residents Society (‘The Society’), formed in 1971, serves for public benefit of those living on the Calthorpe Estate. The Society’s objectives are as follows:
Securing the preservation of features of beauty, history and character in the area.
Encouraging public interest, and promoting high standards of planning and architecture.
Promoting social interaction between residents and organisations, enhancing the quality of community life.
BTP has similar objectives, as we would like to improve the perception of and protect existing trees, raising awareness of green spaces. This also includes planting further trees to increase canopy cover, as a primary UFMP objective. Working with similar organisations like our own can only build stronger foundations for the residents of the city.
We look forward to establishing a new relationship, and the tree talk will provide The Society with better knowledge and understanding on how to achieve their objectives concerning tree management.
The Urban & Community Forestry Society (UCFS) published an article regarding the Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP), and we are incredibly proud to be mentioned. It highlights the work BTP and BCC have been doing for the Urban Forest Master Plan. Many thanks to Michelle Sutton for writing this City Trees article, and for Ian McDermott’s mention.
As many of our TreePeople will know, our goal is to increase canopy cover in the many wards of Birmingham. This crucial element is incorporated into the Master Plan because of the many benefits trees bring to our urban environment.
An Urban Forest Master Plan is a strategic document that states the intentions for the green space and natural capital of the city. A long-term approach with an action-based strategy. It focuses on how the city will develop and manage its urban forest in the years to come. The plan defines the aspirations of the council, its urban forest managers, and key stakeholders.
The plan is based around key performance indicators. Each with specific actions, targets, and milestones to measure progress. It brings existing policies and frameworks together, offering a comprehensive guide to urban forest practices. It can help build a greener, healthier urban forest.
BTP and our partners are targeting priority wards in Birmingham with low tree equity, to increase canopy cover for the many benefits it can bring those areas.
Katy Hawkins of BTP helped the Nechells POD on a Tree Walk on 2nd November. The walk consisted of families and many children learning about local trees. Katy ran through some species and how to identify them, as well as an after-walk crafting session with the leaves they found. Despite the blustery and rainy weather it was a fantastic turnout, and those who attended enjoyed themselves whilst learning new things about trees.
There will be another Tree Walk on Tuesday 7th November with Katy and the Keoweyn Education and Community Centre, identifying trees and how to use leaves to makes teas. (CANCELLED)
We want to extend our thanks to the POD for the event, and Lee Marsham the local Nechells Labour Councillor for attending. Well done to Katy for leading the walk and activities, teaching the younger generation the magic of green spaces.
UNECE/FAO Forest Information Billboard 3/2023 is out, and BTP made the cut!
As part of the recently published Urban Forest Master Plan, BTP have turned their attention to their tree planting strategy. This is a key priority for the UFMP and the upcoming planting season. Tree equity has been propelled to the forefront of our tree planting efforts, targeting priority wards with high deprivation and low canopy cover. To help engage the residents and ensure the successful establishment of trees, TreePlotter has been employed to easily record and alter the propositioned locations. Once the maps are finalised, more will be added in the future.
For those who want to get involved, see the proposed planting sites here.
The purpose of the Forest Information Billboard is to gather news from the forest sector in one place: from forest reporting, new publications, and upcoming events. The contribution to the Billboard is voluntary.
The interim results for the street tree survey were presented during the September 16th free online training session. The recorded session is now available as a video here. For those who missed it, or those who would like a refresher.
The general overview of this survey is to asses the crown dieback, overall condition, and potential damage of street trees, old and newly planted. This will determine we can proceed with planting new species suitable for the warming climate. We will do this by increasing canopy cover in priority wards around Birmingham, and improving the upkeep of our street trees. Based on an American model, TreePlotter analysis is used to record the findings.
Interim Results
Our interim results, despite 69.5% of the surveyed trees being in good condition, were 7.4% poor and 2.5% dead. Additionally, only 18.2% were fair. This means there will be many solutions to raise the percentage of good and fair condition trees. Most of the trees have date and time reference for planting; we can track the timing of the damage.
Noticeably, forest trees like beeches are favoured, and trees from predominantly the rose family, like cherries. The problem is, these are susceptible to bacterial canker. Additionally, liquidambars appear frequently, although not native, and are thriving on our roads due to heat islands.
Root problems, loose trees, soil size, staking, vandalism, species selection, and low to no mulching (87.7%!) are all contributing factors to the failure of the trees in certain locations. Our model is based on a US study, finding that most of the trees died in poorer areas of the cities.
That’s why BTP are working on ‘red wards‘ or priority wards. These are areas that suffer from low income, and therefore low tree equity.
Additional Information
Training sessions take place online, on the third Saturday of the month from 10am-12pm. Reminders circulate by using the mailing list for volunteers. To join or try one of our regular free training sessions, please contact us or email us at: [email protected]
We gathered once again to talk about green spaces last Saturday 7th October. Birmingham TreePeople (BTP) attended the Annual Birmingham Open Spaces Forum (BOSF) Conference. It was held at the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), amongst many other Friends and environmental groups. The aim of the yearly gatherings is to update and thank the various volunteer groups, for their committed work throughout Birmingham. It also spreads awareness of the importance of nature and green spaces, sharing ideas between partners.
After a short introduction by Emma Woolf, introducing us to BOSF Trustees, Councillor Majid Mahmood gave his speech. The Cabinet Member for the Environment thanked the devoted non-profits for the 24,000 days of volunteeringprovided to the city. This is no mere feat, he explained, as these days equal over a million pounds of investment. Investment that goes back into green spaces and urban forests.
Darren Share, attending his last conference as BCC Head of Parks, followed Councillor Mahmood’s talk. He pushed the importance of links to nature and green spaces. BTP helped the city gain the status of Tree City of the World back in 2019. That’s one reason why Share could comfortably state that Birmingham is ahead of other UK cities. He stated he has travelled extensively around the UK, but nowhere has the volunteering network that this metropolis has. Raising the profile of our work can only help us create and preserve more green space.
The Greater Good of Green Spaces
Individual members of groups within the audience had the chance to participate in a question-and-answer session, with Councillor Mahmood and Share. The former was enlightening, informing us the Council would like this to be “the city of a thousand parks”. Thus, improving the mental health and well-being of local residents.
Alternatively, the unfortunate austerity bought about by budget cuts impacted on Birmingham’s 631 parks (two of these the largest in the country) in different ways. Some worse than others, and those smaller parks need some extra help – especially with fly-tipping.
A keen spectator asked: “How can what we are doing be seen in a wider context of benefitting the city?” Share rightly pointed out that research gathered from the work we do speaks for itself, as well as informing the Council. Mahmood highlighted the clear link between mental and physical health and open spaces. If dialogue can be created between the groups, the city, and public health – with social or ‘green’ prescribing starting to take off – a connection between us and nature can be further established. This will build upon the current projects and achievements of the passionate volunteers.
“Parks play a wider role than just being fun.”
– Councillor Majid Mahmood
Jeevan Jones, of the Save Birmingham campaign, gave a presentation highlighting their intentions of registering assets of community value. This will help communities protect and provide green spaces, or other environmental features and buildings, for the years to come. They will do this by finding out what the residents care about around their wards, to register assets – through consultation with Commissioners if possible – of community value. BOSF have recently joined the Save Birmingham campaign.
Save Birmingham at the BOSF Conference 2023. Everyone holding up the leaflets for a photo with Jeevan. Click here to see their version of the photo on Instagram!
The Friends of the Parks’ Tree Trails, with BTP:Green Spaces & Green PrescriptionsPart 1
After the ‘Just A Minute’ updates with representatives of each group, Ian (Mac) McDermott opened the Tree Trails presentation with the usual injection of humour. He delved into the background of BTP: our status as Tree City, being the largest volunteer network in the country, having a primary hand in the Urban Forest Master Plan, and a Call-To-Action for volunteers for the Street Tree Survey and our upcoming Nechells and Newtown tree planting.
Mac also added onto the health and social aspect of the Tree Trails. He proclaimed the evident nature of the walks being inherently healthy for the mind and body, making the Friends’ trails perfect for green prescriptions. The more trees the walk has, the more steps per trail or from tree to tree, the inclusion of hills and gradients… They all contribute towards this concept. With this in mind, Mac, also a representative of the Friends of Brunswick Park, mentioned their new Tree Trail ‘The Newbs’, focusing on newly planted trees.
Deanne Brettle, BTP Trustee and BIFoR Project Manager, explained the ease of mapping the trees for each trail using TreePlotter. The software ensures that users will need a mobile and internet connection, but digitising the walks guarantees more information. This includes images of different seasons.
Split Sessions: Bird Walk & Social Prescribing
Green Spaces and Green Prescriptions Part 2
After a second round of ‘Just A Minute’, and a fruitful networking lunch with trail enquiries, the tree congregation parted into two halves. Natalie of RSPB, gave a riveting walk and talk about the local birds around Cannon Hill Park. Meanwhile, Emma directed an indoor session probing into more health and social prescribing.
It was noted that our environmental groups have been green prescribing before it was even ‘a thing’. Despite the struggles with approaching social prescribing, it’s certainly the way forward. Pond dipping, bird walks, wood walks, tree trails, planting, surveying; any and all of these outdoor activities can contribute positively towards mental health and well-being. It can even function as preventative, it tackles anxiety, it improves mindfulness and connection.
Mac (BTP), Jill (FoBP), Helen (BOSF), and Becky (BOSF) enjoying the Bird Walk by Natalie (RSPB).
BTP intend to develop this idea of green prescriptions further, using the knowledge gained from the conference. We will do this by emphasising the extensive effort of the Friends’ and their Tree Trails. Developing these walks and providing them online would be a skilled and straightforward way to access them.
Final Words
Big thanks to Mary and Emma of BOSF, who hosted the conference confidently despite absences, making sure the groups know the BOSF Coffee Afternoon will take place on 7th November in Eco Building. As it creeps closer to Christmas, the BOSF Christmas Event will be at the Council House on December 12th. Thank you to all the inspiring volunteers and charities who continue to make Birmingham a better place.
By now the tragic news of the mindless felling at Sycamore Gap has circulated far and wide. Various media outlets have released regular updates on the ancient vandalism, and the attempts to replant a future sapling. However, closer to home, there has been a similar incident.
Sycamore Gap: Vandalism
Granted its not a historical landmark, but the destruction of a local street tree in Wednesbury, along Woden Road South, has been reported. The Cockspur Thorn, still a relatively young tree, was quite obviously, and purposely, chopped in half. The top half containing the fruitful canopy was left to fall and wither. Another tree of the same kind, further down the road, has been pushed over along with its supporting stake. It is not currently known if the second tree is a part of the same sabotage.
This incident took place roughly around the same time as the sycamore gap tree was publicised to have been secretly felled. One could surmise that the occurrences are related, and the defacement stated by the media has moved other vandals to do the same in their own community. We remain hopeful in the belief that residents of Wednesbury and wider populations can come together, to overcome these individual actions. Yet, this is not the first – nor the last – time street trees have been vandalised.
Street trees can help us
Our Street Tree Survey is still ongoing, but interim data has concluded that many of these trees die due to outside interference. Street trees are a vital cog in the urban clockwork, but receive little to no attention. They are even forcibly removed. Without the urban forest, heat islands will rise alongside pollution, and the landscape aesthetics will dwindle, biodiversity suffering with it.
The intent behind the felling of this street tree cannot be truly determined, only theorised. We hope that our dedicated urban forest volunteers, and the citizens of all neighbourhoods, can champion and protect our trees. For the good of the planet, and to honour our place on it.
“The Trees a Crowd podcast is a series of informal conversations with artists, scientists and enthusiasts; a mutual celebration of the beauty of the environment and the way it inspires them as human beings.”
“Hosted by artist, actor and ambassador to both the Wildlife Trusts and the Woodland Trust, David Oakes, each episode explores how the countryside has inspired their careers as they reflect on how growing up within the natural world became working for the natural world.”
“Growing up in the New Forest and the Purbeck Jurassic Coast, David Oakes launched this podcast as a passion project to explore his lifelong fascination with the wild people and the wildlife that makes our planet its home.” – About Trees a Crowd
This particular podcast, entitled 56(ish) Trees, “[uproots] the secrets and stories beneath the 56(ish) Native Trees of the British Isles”, and makes up the third series. Click on the button link below to listen:
