Thousands of saplings planted at Hinton Ampner: Inspiring
As part of the National Trust’s ‘Reimagining a Hampshire estate‘ project, the initiative at Hinton Ampner focuses on tree planting.
It aims to plant approximately 60,000 trees over the next three years.
Our achievements so far
We coordinate volunteers for a series of planting days between December and March. After planting 3,000 trees in 2024-25 and over 4,000 in 2025-26, we have reached a combined total of 7,000 trees.
The map below displays the areas we have planted to date. Details for upcoming planting days will be available on our homepage as they are scheduled.
The approach
The trees we help to plant are bare root whips, ranging from about 20 to 60cm tall. As a result, this work supports tree planting while they are dormant, i.e. between December and March.
The planting technique is simply to:
- Cut and open a slot in the soil – No digging is required
- Slide in the whip
- Heal it in to close the slot
- Add and secure the protective sheathing
They are native species you would expect for a chalk landscape, including the likes of Oak, Elm, Hawthorne, Field Lime, etc. but taking the potential impacts of climate change into account, and are all sourced from within the UK. This is about, “Planting the right tree in the right place”.
As the trees grow at different rates, it is necessary to project some of the slower growing ones, e.g. Oaks against deer. One approach to this is planting faster growing Hawthorns around the Oaks to provide them with a prickly shield until they get away.
Once established, the trees will be properly managed as a sustainable woodland, e.g. with coppicing, etc.
Given the challenges of a rapidly changing climate, saplings are highly vulnerable to unpredictable weather conditions. To protect them, we are mulching the trees to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and deter pests.
Do you want to know more?
If you’d like to know more, or even volunteer to help us, please contact us at environment@winchester-rotary.org.
Latest news
Mulching fun in the sun
On Thursday, May 7th the following 5 members returned to the Hinton Ampner estate, not to plant trees this time, but to mulch them and as a result protect them from drying out, being attacked by little critters, etc: Working alongside a team of regular National Trust volunteers, we managed to mulch at least 1,000 […]
Final tree planting session at Hinton Ampner
What a terrific turn out for Winchester Rotary’s last tree planting session of the season on Friday 6 March, in the far flung fields belonging to the National Trust at Hinton Ampner. Our local MP Danny Chambers, the Mayor of Winchester Cllr Sudhakar Achwal, our District Governor Richard Burnett, City councillor Kelsie Learney and City and […]
Hinton Ampner tree planting beats last year’s total!
On a very murky, though thankfully rain free Sunday in February, a team of 24 intrepid individuals, including a team from Denplan braved the quagmire of the Hinton Ampner estate, to plant 900 trees! We literally ran out of stakes and guards to be able to plant any more. As usual, we were supported by […]
1,000+ trees planted in a single day. Tremendous!
On January 14th, our team of 26 volunteers, 17 of whom were non-Rotarians ventured out to the Hinton Ampner estate, to continue with our tree planting effortsin collaboration with the National Trust. Our number was bolstered with the 2 National Trust Rangers (Steph and Casper) and three of their volunteers, who showed us the new […]
First tree planting session at Hinton Ampner this winter
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Club Meeting – 10 November “Reimagining a Hampshire Estate”
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Bluebell walk at the Hinton Ampner estate
The Tuesday after Easter saw 11 of us, including 2 guests (Kelsie Learney and Imti Abusali, a prospective new member) walk the 4 miles of Hinton Ampner’s Bluebell walk. Our Environment team’s latest social venture. This was followed by an extremely pleasant lunch at the Flower Pots Inn, Cheriton, where the walkers were joined by […]
Final tree planting at Hinton Ampner for this season
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