A VITAL stage in a seven-year project to save a rare juniper woodland was reached this spring with the planting of young saplings raised from seed collected on the Holystone Burn Woods nature reserve in the Coquet Valley, which is managed by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust and the Forestry Commission.
Juniper woodland is one of the key habitats identified in both the UK and Northumberland Biodiversity Action Plans as needing protection. In a detailed study of juniper in the county covering the period from 1973 to 1995, 54 per cent of juniper colonies showed a population decline and 16 per cent of colonies became extinct.
The sapling planting was a red letter day for Wildlife Trust volunteer Ruth Wood, who has tended the precious trees from seedling stage, and the University of Newcastle Estates Department, whose staff also helped by sowing seeds and developing cuttings for the project.