Volunteers help plant trees at Southwell meadow

The land between Becher’s Walk and Shady Lane in Southwell, known as Froggatt’s Field, was owned by Mr and Mrs Richard Froggatt, who gifted a triangular strip to the town in 2006.

After Richard’s death, Liz Froggatt sold the rest of the field to Southwell Town Council in 2010 to protect it from development.

Chair of the Town Environment Committee for Southwell Town Council, Peter Harris, said: “This is just stage one of our plans as we work towards obtaining Local Wildlife Site certification of this precious parcel of land.

"Biodiversity is key, so we’ve planted 17 varieties including bird cherry, sessile oak, quite rare black poplar and a walnut, donated by Sue and Jim Mason, which they grew from a tree in their garden.”

Southwell Town Council is following advice from Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s senior conservation officer, Mark Speck.

Mark said: “The presence of water from the nearby Potwell Dyke is such a bonus and will help attract a large range of birds, invertebrates and small mammals to the area.”

Mr Harris added: “We are so grateful to Sam White and Sue Sipple who set up the Notts Treeplanters charity in 2019.”

Sue Sipple said: “Our aim is to raise awareness of climate change, offset carbon emissions and improve air quality within Nottinghamshire.

"We love to help communities to take action to improve biodiversity and air quality as we have here in Southwell.

“To date we have mobilised more than 430 people and planted a staggering 1,427 trees. You can contact us via email, [email protected].”