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Scorriton Down was Moor Trees' first large planting site in the winter of 02/03. The Down is a narrow strip of farmland strectching up onto the moor and seperates the commons of Buckfastleigh and Holne, of which the latter was mentioned in the Doomesday Book.
Over 4,500 trees were planted on 2.91 ha within the Red Deer Farm on the Down and in the winter of 07/08 further work was carried out to encourage woodland regeneration over an area of nearly 4ha. It took over 140 volunteers more than 26 days to plant the new woodland.
The original planting scheme took two years to develop and enabled the landowner to attract a grant from the Forestry Commission's Native Woodlands Challenge Fund to cover all the costs of buying, protecting and maintaining the trees. The new woodland connects the ancient woodland of Scae wood along the River Mardle across the Down to Michel Coombe wood of similar quality on the Holy Brook on the other side of the Down. Linking and expanding these wonderful old woodlands is a central theme of our work because most ancient woodlands have become small, fragmented and, as such, vulnerable to losing their diversity of plants and animals.
The work in 07/08 comprised mainly of clearing areas of gorse to allow tree seed to regenerate more easily on the adajacent to Scae wood.
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