Plot 4
On the 20th June 2022, the Vegan Land Movement entered a 4th auction and won, removing another 10 acres from dairy farming.
We had been working behind the scenes after losing at a previous auction and took the previously raised funds to this one. This is the 4th and biggest parcel of land removed so far by the VLM and is now rewilding, creating habitats for endangered species.
Thank you to all the donors who supported this fundraiser and to all the many VLM subscribers who have helped to collectively remove this land from animal farming to return it back to wild animals and biodiversity.
Native Tree Planting
In November 2022 and March 2023 20-30 volunteers joined the #VeganLandMovementCIC to plant a future biodiverse woodland on #DairyLandBuyout4. A total of 1500 native trees were planted over 2 weekends by many volunteers.
We have named this future woodland, Hermann’s Wood. Hermann Kastner was a lifelong vegan who helped the VLM secure this area of land just before he sadly died of cancer.
Planting trees on land that has been removed from dairy farming is a beautiful thing, a gift back to the earth and to life.
Volunteers came from far and wide for this tree planting project. It was wonderful to witness so many vegans working together to create the changes that we must create. We sorted trees, dug, planted, we laughed and we ate lots of beautiful vegan food. Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who have helped plant this future woodland and a very special thank you to Hermann for leaving this legacy to our earth and wildlife.
Total trees planted over the 2 weekends
80 Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus)
80 Aspen (Populus tremuloides)
80 Bird Cherry (Prunus padus)
80 Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
80 Common Alder (Alnus glutinosa)
80 Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
80 Common Elder (Sambucus nigra)
80 Crack Willow (Salix fragilis)
80 Downy Birch (Betula pubescens)
80 Field Maple (Acer campestre)
80 Goat Willow (Salix caprea)
80 Grey Willow (Salix cinerea)
80 Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
80 Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
150 Hazel (Corylus avellana)
100 Oak (Quercus robur)
80 Osier Willow (Salix viminalis)
80 Silver Birch (Betula pendula)
80 Spindle (Euonymus europaeus)
30 Wild Cherry (Prunus avium)
Species Counts 2023
Just a few months after planting trees on this 10 acre site we witnessed a huge increase in biodiversity when carrying out the species counts. All the young saplings were in leaf and the site was buzzing with pollinators and butterflies. We also witnessed a breathtaking spectacle of countless swifts and other small birds soaring above this site, which must have been due to the amount of insects that had returned. This incredible spectacle was not seen above any neighbouring grazed fields and it was a wonderful sight to behold.
UPDATE 28th March 2026
On Saturday the 28th of March 2026 we planted 450 more wet woodland trees on Plot 4, removed from dairy farming in 2022 and upgraded the smaller protective tree tubes with larger ones. This is to protect previously planted trees which had outgrown their tubes.
Using salvaged tubes to upgrade on plot 4
In total,over 950 trees were planted during this weekend – 450+ on plot 4 and 500 on plot 8.
This time, we had trees donated from eForests, Re-imagining the Levels, as well as some salvaged local trees and 150 willow withie sticks . Thank you to all those who donated trees.
The trees planted on plot 8 and plot 4 in late March 2026
Images from plot 4 and plot 8 March 2026
Tree Care
The main objective was to upgrade tubes on plot 4 and extend tubes that had been outgrown by the trees to protect them from deer. Many of the trees we planted in 2022 were being nibbled by deer at the top of their current 60cm spirals protectors. For this we used an ingenious idea invented by 2 local volunteers who have been salvaging roadside tubes that had never been removed.
“The story of how we recycled thousands of tree covers…
It was brought to our attention that there were trees in an industrial area that were dying because the tree covers were still in place and were strangulating the new grown trees. Some had already rotted behind the plastic and had fallen over, the tubes lying around in the copse. You have probably seen this in many locations and it makes you feel you want to ‘rescue’ the trees and liberate them from their restricting covers.”
Please use this PDF file if you would like to upgrade tubes in this way too.
Roadside salvage
Salvaged tubes
Panoramic image after tube upgrading on plot 4