Woodland Creation on Moor Wood Farm in the Cotswolds
Moor Wood in Gloucestershire is a family-run estate that over the last four years has transitioned from a fairly conventional arable farm into one with a much greater emphasis on nature and restoration.
In a drive to improve soil health and boost biodiversity, the Robinson family put the farm into a Countryside Stewardship Scheme that saw a network of wild bird seed mixes and species rich grassland created. Extraordinarily this established more grassland across the estate than at any time since World War II. Now, they are planning the next steps, which includes making permanent habitat changes to ensure a more resilient and interconnected ecosystem for years to come.
Woodland creation forms part of these plans. The family engaged Zulu Ecosystems to design a woodland creation project that would connect and buffer out their existing woodlands, maximise impact on biodiversity and water regulation, navigate the planning and grant application process, all whilst delivering verifiable carbon units.
Zulu Ecosystems first mapped Moor Wood estate within the context of the Upper Thames catchment cluster, working with the family to identify 28 hectares of marginal agricultural land where new woodland would have the greatest environmental impact. This involved assessing which areas would deliver the most benefits for habitat connectivity, flood risk mitigation, water quality, soil health, biodiversity, and carbon credits, as well as identifying any legal and regulatory constraints that might prevent or make the project particularly difficult to deliver.
Zulu’s platform aggregated multiple public and private datasets, plus on-the-ground insights, and survey results, to suggest what an optimal tree species mix would look like in respect to the soil – Cotswold brash, a thin and stony layer of clay over limestone rock – under multiple future IPCC-aligned climate scenarios.
Zulu Ecosystems’ biodiversity and flood management capabilities delivered insights on which planting areas would give the best results to help mitigate flood risk downstream, as well as identifying the key indicator species to monitor and support across the wider estate, such as lapwing, grey partridge, and woodlark.
The goal was to create a financially viable and resilient woodland creation project that connected, expanded, and buffered out existing woodland, making use of the most marginal farmland, whilst supporting other estate enterprises, owner preferences, and maximising the environmental impact.
The rigorous detail and scale of Zulu Ecosystems’ assessment brought the family quickly towards a ‘Go-or-No-Go' decision to decide if the time and resources would be worth it. The answer was a resounding yes.
This restoration work will run alongside wetland and permanent grassland creation on other areas of the estate to improve biodiversity, soil health, climate resilience, and create high-quality carbon credits to support the estate and improve the wider ecosystem for generations to come.
Read more about our approach to biodiversity at Zulu Ecosystems here.