Surrey Wildlife Trust Pine & Dine 2018

On Wednesday 12^th December 2018 the Ward Williams Financial Services team, joined the Surrey Wildlife Trust and other companies on a festive day to help remove invasive Scotts Pine from the heathland of Chobham Common.

The importance of the maintenance of this rare heathland was explained to us - Lowland heathland is only found along the fringes of northern Europe and is protected under European legislation.  Surrey has over 3,500 hectares of this internationally important natural resource and the Surrey Wildlife Trust cares for 64% of it. Chobham Common is one of the finest remaining examples of lowland heath in the world.

After a detailed security briefing, we all got to work sawing down trees and clearing scrub to make a home for wildlife that thrives in heathland.  We were able to bag the trees and take them home for Christmas or they were piled onto huge bonfires with the help of the lovely Surrey Wildlife Trust staff.

At lunchtime, we stopped to tuck into a hearty chilli, washed down with warmed spiced cider.  There was also the opportunity to toast marshmallows over the fire.

In the afternoon, we were able to get festive and make our own natural Christmas wreaths and the day was finished off with mince pies and more tea to warm up after a hard day’s work.

The day was enjoyed by all and we were able to clear 2 hectares of heathland to restore it back to its natural state.

We would like to thank the Surrey Wildlife Trust for hosting such a well organised and enjoyable day and for all their hard work in looking after Surrey’s countryside.