Volunteers replant trees in St Ouens following storm devastation

Volunteers gathered in St Ouen on Sunday January 14 to help plant new trees to replace those lost during Storm Ciarán.

Jersey Conservation Volunteers teamed up with Jersey Trees for Life to help with their long running hedgerow campaign.

The project, which has been running since 2007, has proved more important than ever this year, as the charity seeks to replenish the trees that were lost or damaged due to Storm Ciarán.

The charity's CEO, Alex Morel said: "With the storm we've lost a lot of trees but hopefully that doesn't impact the diversity because we will be replanting those trees.

"We will be adding more native trees back into the mix and with global warming we will be looking at what sort of trees are going to thrive in the future."

The campaign aims to create safe corridors and habitats for wildlife, reduce soil erosion around agricultural fields and increase biodiversity by planting 10,000 new whips every year.

Local species such as hawthorn, hazel and wild cherry were chosen to build the new hedgerow in the hopes of encouraging native species to the area.

Alex Morel said: "It will radically change the biodiversity of this area, including bringing in birds, insects and small mammals as well."

Jersey Trees for Life and National Trust for Jersey welcome any extra volunteers, as they stress there is still a long way to go to fix the devastation left by the storm.