This piece was written as part of our preparation for the 2026 Green Impact Awards. One of the sections is to prepare and complete a project within your business. As a land-based business, where our campsite needs the woodland to be good quality and we will benefit from adding new natural features, planting new trees was an obvious project.

This is the first part, which is to outline what we are planning to do.

Introduction

British woodland is a product of thousands of years of humans shaping the species present in these amazing spaces. The woodland at Camp Wight has an array of amazing native species, and includes nationally protected environments.  There are certain species which aren’t present in the woodland at the moment.

We will be planting new trees across the site, in spring 2026. Some of them are high amenity species for the campsite: apple and pear trees. Others are native trees which are suitable for the soil and conditions on site, but are not currently present in our woodland.

The trees will improve biodiversity, fill in spaces where trees weren’t present, where it has been identified only few species currently live. Other new trees will replace inappropriate and environmentally poor species and extend the transition from one type of environment to another.

The planting is designed to contribute to the recently adopted publicly developed Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), which is outlined here: https://www.islandnature.org/

Background

The woodland Camp Wight exists within has been present for hundreds of years. Part of the site is designated as Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ANSW). Another part is designated as a Site of Interest for Nature Conservation (SINC).

About 50% of the site is a plantation completed under the Forestry Commission Joining and Increasing Grant Scheme for Ancient Woodland (JIGSAW) scheme, funded by EU Challenge Funds. This woodland filled in missing ‘jigsaw’ pieces in wildlife corridors and expanded ASNW. This expansion of the woodland space around ANSW has helped protect and improve the oldest woodland area on our site.

Key
Orange hatching – SINC
Green stripe – ANSW
Green mottled are – Woodland Tree Protection Order
Yellow – National Landscape

Map excerpt from IW Council Core Strategy mapping at: https://iwc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7e7cfe1b75c3460e91320a9dbb7f5639

As our business relies on the woodland to provide a natural environment to enable our guests to connect with nature, it is essential that we care for this environment in everything we do.

Thomas, the working partner in the business already completes an annual programme to coppice hazel plants around the site. This triggers regeneration in the plants and produces sticks and poles used in laying hedges on and off the site. Coppicing also keeps the canopy across the site open, in rotated sections, every 7-10 years. This ensures more light reaches the ground than in unmaintained woodland. This stimulates a greater variety of ground flora and fauna, improving the biodiversity of the woodland.

Project objectives

Improving woodland age structure An integral part of good practice in woodland management is to create an uneven age structure within woodland. In order to deliver this, it is now time to start adding new trees in to the JIGSAW planting area, which was planted in 2002.

Improving biodiversity These new trees will increase the number of species present on site, as well as some of them being planted outside of the woodland. Planting outside the woodland will increase the transition zone between woodland to grassland and open countryside. These transition zones are some of the most biodiverse areas in the country and will support the LNRS objectives of increasing the quality and size of ANSW habitat.

Mitigating invasive weeds We have an issue with Goat Willow, which although is a native species, is invasive and environmentally very poor. Goat Willow grows fast and shades other trees. It also has a very dense canopy, so excludes light from the woodland floor. Its leaves are also very acidic and stifle growth of other plants where they fall.

Finally, although willow grows fast and tall, the stems are generally weak, so they are prone to splitting and falling outwards. This damages surrounding plants and increases the area only populated with willow.

Goat willow is only present in the woodland due to wind-blown seed distribution from the previously existing hedge lines. These are ‘plants in the wrong place’ aka weeds. They will be addressed by being coppiced very hard. New trees will be planted around the coppiced plants, which will be new species on the site, to improve the biodiversity. These areas will be managed to keep the new plants ahead of existing willow. This should shade out the willow, which will remove it from these areas naturally.

Trees to be planted

In areas where there is currently bramble-dominated scrub, or Goat Willow we will plant Wild Service and Small Leaved Lime trees. These have been chosen as they prefer heavy soils and are tolerant of poor drainage. We are also planning on sourcing some disease resistant elms. We will add some fruiting hazels, with the trees, which will provide nuts for the red list species on site: Hazel Dormice and Red Squirrels.

Around the edge of camping pitches we will plant 15 new apple and pear trees. This includes adding a couple of new pear trees next to a lonely pear tree next to the footpath, which has never fruited. They should pollinate the original one, which will allow it and the new trees to fruit.

Varieties of the apple and pear trees are a mix between lower cost trees, such as Golden Delicious and Conference and some locally significant varieties including Howgate Wonder and Steyne Seedling, which were developed on the Isle of Wight.

The fruit trees will be planted on full-size and semi-dwarfing root stocks, to ensure they are good-sized trees.

Customer engagement

We will post about the planting on our social media channels and website, to ensure customers are aware of the new trees. Guests will also be briefed on the trees around their pitch, or space when they stay with us, to ensure the new trees are respected.

Proposed planting locations

Orange dots represent new trees to be planted.

Ongoing tasks

A big part of our site management is caring for the trees and shrubs in the woodland. These new trees and shrubs will fall in to our management practices and be looked after for many years in to the future. This will include watering and mulching in drought periods and formative pruning for the fruit trees to ensure they are as productive and healthy as possible.

Project difficulties and opportunities

The campsite owners have lots of experience in planting and nurturing trees and shrubs on the site and ensuring we plant appropriate species and look after them whilst they establish.

Difficulties are likely to be focused around weather conditions – heavy rainfall and heatwaves and drought in the summer. These risks have been mitigated with choice of appropriate species, to plant trees which thrive in wet conditions. Mulching with shredded material from around the site will keep the trees wetter for longer in the summer, hand watering during droughts will protect the trees from water shortages, even with hosepipe bans and using minimal protective guards protects against the plants being ‘burnt off’ in heatwaves, which is a risk with tall and full tree shelters.

Legacy

Planting trees on our site, which already sequesters approximately 42 tonnes of carbon per year ensures we build on that sequestration and improve the shady environment with resilient trees which will provide amenity and fruit for many decades in the future.