Miyawaki – Hreod Burna Urban Forest

Sunflowers 2023

HBUF is all about providing a green space in the Swindon suburbs where people can get closer to nature. We were all moved by what was happening in Ukraine. We are not a political organisation, but we are all for bringing the community together for the good of all, and our sense of community doesn’t stop at the edge of Gorse Hill or Pinehurst.

In the summer of 2022, local people came together at HBUF to plant sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine. After planting their own seeds at home, people brought their young plants to create a display in our new Miyawaki forest area.

Group of about a dozen volunteers planting sunflowers on a bright sunny day. They are in a fenced-off area with young fruit trees. In the background is a wildflower meadow and forest. — Some of the volunteers in 2022

The event was a huge success. Not only did we bring together a large group of people for our own small act of solidarity, the sunflowers provided us with a glorious show of colour through the summer months.

We have spoken to so many people about how much they loved the sunflowers and, with the war still going on, we are doing it again this year.

If you would like to take part then grab your seeds and get planting. We will be coming together in the first week of June to plant them. If you’d like some seeds then get in touch, we have lots! If you spot Andy out and about he’s probably got some in his pocket for you…

Below, you can see some of our flowers from last year. Alongside the regular sunflowers that we are all familiar with we planted some heritage varieties, so there are some striking and unusual flowers in there, from Teddy Bears to Velvet Queens!

Here at Hreod Burna Urban Forest we may not be able to do any campaigning, but we can bring the community together in a small act of solidarity. And we’re really bloody good at planting things.

Sunflowers 2023 Read More »

Our Sunflowers are in…

Events, Posts, Volunteering / By Andy

HBUF is all about providing a green space in the Swindon suburbs where people can get closer to nature. We are not a political organisation. But we are all about community. We are all about coming together for the good of all.

When we come here to plant trees or mow the grass or keep the brambles under control we’re not doing it just for us, but for everyone who comes to visit, hundreds, maybe thousands of people, most of them complete strangers out to walk their dogs or take their kids on an adventure.

But our sense of community doesn’t stop at the edge of Gorse Hill or Pinehurst.

On Saturday 28th May, 2022, local people came together to plant sunflowers that they had been growing at home. The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine.

We’ve all been moved by what is happening in Ukraine. We’ve seen the outpouring of support for its people right across the UK. Here in Swindon some people have opened their homes while others like Kate, one of our volunteers, have made them welcome by collecting donations of clothes and other essentials.

small sunflower plants, freshly planted, some supported by bamboo canes — A close up of some of our new arrivals

Here at Hreod Burna Urban Forest we may not be able to do any campaigning, but we can bring the community together in a small act of solidarity. And we’re really bloody good at planting things. So when I found out that the sunflower was the national flower of Ukraine this seemed like the obvious thing for us to do.

We couldn’t do any of this without our lovely volunteers, who came together with their sunflowers to create our display. We planted between 150-200 plants. There’s a mix of heritage varieties in there, in a range of colours, shapes and sizes, from Teddy Bears to Velvet Queens, so should be quite a show!

We’ll keep you updated as the sunflowers (we hope!) grow and flower, but feel free to come and admire them in person!

Our Sunflowers are in… Read More »

Miyawaki Magic

Events, Posts, Volunteering / By Andy

We had a fantastic turnout for our volunteer session in March! We started off tree planting in our Miyawaki mini-forest, before moving over to give the Tiverton Field a bit of a spring clean.

Below are the happy, smiling, faces of everyone who managed to get in on the tree planting, we had another half a dozen who didn’t make it into the group shot. We put in our 60-something trees and bushes in the first hour of the session, many hands really does make light work. It was great to have some representatives from the local Scouts group joining us this month.

A group shot of 12 people smiling for the camera. — *Planting trees puts a smile on your face 🙂*

During this session we were planting cherries, plums, currants and gooseberries. These add to the apples, pears, hazel and sweet chestnut that were put in already. And yes, that is what the sky usually looks like when we are working at HBUF 🙂

Photo of a group of 9 people out in the field planting on a sunny day. — *The team in action*

After the planting…

Our snazzy new vests let people know who we are and what we’re up to. They’re also a safety feature if we have people out with the tractor or other potentially hazardous activities like the coppicing.

So if you see Andy out doing some work in the woods you can tell that he’s not just some random bloke, he’s a random bloke in a hi-viz HBUF vest 🙂

We may need to order some in smaller sizes for some of our helpers though…

A young boy in an oversize hi-viz vest that comes down to meet the top of his welly boots. His mum is helping him to dig a hole for their tree to go in. — Hayden modelling our HBUF hi-viz

With so many willing hands the planting was finished in record time and we were able to tackle some other important work. Fly-tipping has been a problem over on the Tiverton field and a lot of rubbish had built up since we mowed and cleared it last year. The group took away several barrow loads of household waste.

We are also hugely grateful to the unsung people who litter-pick around HBUF throughout the week. Many people just take a bag around with them as they walk their dogs or go for a stroll. It’s a sad truth that a small number of selfish people leave so much detritus behind them, but heartening to have so many community-minded folk who help to keep the area nice for all of us.

a group of people out in a field collecting rubbish. — *Litter picking on the Tiverton field*

As ever, if you’d like to keep up to date with what we are up to, you can subscribe to our mailing list to get updates once a month, or you can check us out on Facebook.

Note that you can save some typing with our new Web address: www.hbuf.org

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Meet our volunteers – Gaby & Juanjo

Posts, Volunteering / By Andy

Gaby and Juanjo have been regulars at our volunteer sessions since 2020. They have tried their hands at most of the things we get up to, from coppicing to tree planting.

Photo of Juanjo and Gaby planting a tree in the Miyawaki mini-forest. The sapling sits in its pot waiting for Juanjo to dig the hole, while Gaby supervises. — Juanjo & Gaby helping to plant the Miyawaki Forest in 2022

My husband and I walk daily in this lovely forest and are grateful to all volunteers who look after it. Today we spent a very pleasant afternoon with nature-loving people working together for present and future generations.
Planting a tree is one of the most rewarding things one can do. It is a thrilling experience placing the small tree carefully in its place whilst imagining what it will look like in the future when it reaches its full splendour. Today, we planted many trees and this feeling multiplied.
Gaby

Photo of Gaby, spade in hand, standing posing for the camera. — Gaby

Close-up photo of Juanjo putting the finishing touches to a newly planted tree, patting down the soil with his hand. — Juanjo

I walk in the Hreod Burna Urban Forest and The Venny every day, and I feel privileged to have such wonderful spaces so close to where I live.
Volunteering now and then to plant trees, coppicing or just picking litter up while I walk, is my way of giving a bit back for that privilege.
Juanjo

Juanjo has also used his camera skills to document some of our activities. If you’re part of our Facebook group, you might have seen his video fly-through of the Burna during a session spent battling the invading Himalayan Balsam or his montage of one of our coppicing sessions.

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Volunteer Stories – Kate

Volunteering / By Andy

Kate returned to help us with the Miyawaki Forest after previously coming out in 2019 to help with the planting of the Cricklade Field. She’s busy with all sorts of projects in the local community around Swindon so it was great to be able to welcome her back to HBUF.

A picture of Kate standing out in the new Miyawaki Forest area, stopping to pose for a photo while digging a hole for her tree to go in

Two enjoyable hours spent in the fresh air and sunshine.
There’s something very satisfying about planting trees. My friend said she likes to imagine who last dug this soil when it was allotments. We thought it most certainly would have been used to grow vegetables during the war years.
To the sound of birdsong and quiet conversation, I imagined what this mini forest will look like long after I’ve gone. Who will harvest it’s fruit or rest in it’s shade?
Yes, a very rewarding couple of hours with the added bonus of a little bit of physical exercise, and great company.
Kate

Our volunteers always go away with a smile on their faces. Why not come along and join in? We have regular sessions on the third Sunday of every month.

If you’d like to round up members of your community, hobby or interest group, or colleagues from work, then we’re happy to arrange one-off sessions for you to do something together as a team.

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Our Miyawaki Mini Forest

About HBUF, Posts / By Andy

A new creation for HBUF in 2022 is our ‘Miyawaki’ mini forest. Akira Miyawaki was a Japanese botanist and plant ecologist who was interested in how plant species interact with each other within communities. He came up with a technique for restoring degraded land by the very dense planting of native species, planting trees and other native species far more closely together than we would normally do.

We have already planted hundreds of native trees and thousands of wildflowers on HBUF, much of it on what used to be allotments. We decided to put our own twist on the idea, creating a Miyawaki mini forest of fruit.

The mini forest has several layers of fruit, starting with gooseberries and currants down at ground level, with plums, cherries, apples, pears, hazel and sweet chestnut rising above them.

The Miyawaki Forest is nestled between the Orchard and the Wildflower Meadow

We’ve selected a range of different varieties too. Each one is ready to harvest at a slightly different time of year, which should give us fruit throughout the season.

HBUF is here for the benefit of all the community. In years to come you’ll be able to wander through and pick a bit of fresh fruit to go with your picnic.

If you are interested in the idea of a Miyawaki Forest, here are a couple of links that tell you a bit more about it:

Fast-growing mini-forests spring up in Europe to aid climate (Guardian)

The Miyawaki Method for Creating Forests

Our Miyawaki Mini Forest Read More »

Our Mini Forest takes root

Posts, Volunteering / By Andy

February saw plenty of volunteers in action as we planted our Celtic Circle and started work on the Miyawaki Mini Forest.

When finished, the tree circle will have one ‘tree’ for each of the 13 lunar months from the Celtic Tree Calendar. So far we have planted the largest (oak, birch, willow, etc,). By the time we are finished they will be joined by the other plants that make up the Celtic Tree Calendar, including ivy, a grape vine and rushes.

Photo shows five people spread across a grassy field, each planting a tree. — Our Celtic Tree Circle being planted – too big to get into one shot!

The Miyawaki forest is taking shape between the Wildflower Meadow and the Orchard. The volunteers (again!) had a wonderful day for it. Look at that sky!

Under a beautiful, bright blue sky.
Volunteers are spread out across a patch of broken ground, paused in their tree-planting to stop and look at the camera. — As always at HBUF, a glorious day to be out in the fresh air!

It was good to see a mix of new and old faces again.

Ken joined us from the local Scout group, and we hope to have the Scouts themselves along next time to plant some trees that they can watch grow over the years.

There are two things that all our volunteers say when they’ve spent the day with us. The first is how great it is to be out in the fresh air doing their bit for the environment and our local community. The second is how nice everyone else is, we do get a lovely bunch of volunteers at HBUF 🙂

Six volunteers lined up for a group shot for the camera, each leaning on their spades. — Our Miyawaki volunteers

Our regular session for volunteers takes place from 10am to 12pm on the third Sunday of every month. Everyone welcome!

Our Mini Forest takes root Read More »

Ah, nuts!

Posts, Volunteering / By Andy

The latest addition to HBUF’s tree collection went in on one of our recent volunteer sessions.

A lot of people have discovered HBUF for the first time during lockdown. It’s easy enough to walk along the cycle path in the Venny without realising that all that Hreod Burna loveliness is just off that path.

Luckily for us, one such person was Charline, who lives within a short walk of HBUF but had only recently learnt about us.

Charline and her family joined us to plant a couple of walnut trees that had originally been bought for their own garden. They had come to realise that the trees weren’t suitable.

Daughter Heidi was first into action, hefting the mattock to remove the turf

Steve was on-hand, as always, to supervise the planting

Bedding in the first of the new arrivals

The walnuts will fit in nicely with a new feature we are planning at the moment. Both trees are on the edge of the wildflower meadow, which already has a small orchard at one end.

In keeping with the existing orchard we’re looking to create an edible ‘Miyawaki’ forest, with a mix of fruiting trees and bushes. A Miyawaki forest is an area of dense planting, with the trees planted much closer to each other than would normally be the case.

Watch this space or subscribe to our mailing list to keep up to date with the latest goings on at HBUF.

Ah, nuts! Read More »