A phrase that's enough to make the toes curl of anyone that's ever played our Devonshire Course, Bondhay has proudly become a part of the Derbyshire Heartwood Community Forest scheme by planting a total of 1283 native trees and shrubs on 0.72 hectares of unused land between the 15th green and 16th tee.
The forest is being created along the eastern fringe of Derbyshire and through southern Derbyshire, joining the National Forest and linking an existing network of 15 Community Forests, which are located in and around large towns and cities.
Community forests offer high-quality environments for millions of people by creating green spaces, boosting biodiversity and improving access to nature. These in turn boost people's health and wellbeing. They also provide urban and economic regeneration and will be a great legacy for generations to come.
The planting area is to the south of the golf club, which is slowly regenerating grassland with boundary hedgerow to the highway on two sides. The planting design has infilled an area between individual mature trees to the east and hedgerows to the south and east. The area is now home to a selection of birch, oak, maple and hazel.
Josh Clarke, Operations Director at Bondhay Golf Club said:
"As a business with such a large outdoor space, we are well placed to do our bit for nature and the wider environment. Joining the Community Forest is a just a very small part we can play in boosting biodiversity and increasing the tree cover of the UK. We had originally hoped to offer more unused land for this project, but felt that disrupting the species already in place would be more detrimental. Thankfully we managed to utilise this unused space out on the southern end of the course. My thanks to the DHCF team and associated contractors for their work in managing this project."
Trees have a number of benefits for the land, including:
The trees will be left to 'do their thing', creating a fantastic natural habitat for local wildlife. The team at Bondhay will tend to the land over the next few years to ensure the new additions have the best chance of success and survival. This will include the removal or problem weeds and continuing a herbaceous buffer zone in the immediate vicinity. The project pairs with the businesses' current commitment to a large swathe of unused land at the north of the Bondhay boundary, which has been left to nature and now hosts a variety of rare birds and flora throughout the year.
Find out more about Derbyshire's Heartwood Community Forest here, and the nationwide project at https://englandscommunityforests.org.uk/.
