Volunteers brave elements to replant trees along Jersey's Railway Walk
ITV Channel's Ted Chamberlain rolls up his sleeves and gets stuck in with the team breathing new life into Jersey's Railway Walk.
A team of volunteers are sprucing up Jersey's Railway Walk by planting hundreds of trees to replace those damaged or killed by Storm Ciarán. Charity Jersey Trees for Life and members of the public have been battling the elements over Christmas to breathe new life into an area which saw it's greenery ravaged by last year's storm. Replanting started at Corbiere early in December in he hope that the project will be completed in St Aubin by early int the New Year. Alex Morel, CEO of Jersey Trees for Life, told ITV News: "Everybody's out here for the same reason which is to replant the Railway Walk and to make it look brilliant in 10 to 20 years time."And what I would love is that, in many years to come, people will point it out to their children, their grandchildren, their friends, their family, and say, 'I planted that tree' and to be able to watch and sort of take care of it."Volunteers have been planting a range of species along the popular path, used by walkers, runners and cyclists, including pine trees.
Ben Parkes, from Jersey Trees for Life, said: "We've tried to use species that can handle windy, exposed sites in very free draining soil that we do have up here. The pines are perfect. "There are pine trees all the way along the Railway Walk, it's kind of synonymous with the area, so we want to try and stick with that. "We've chosen Austrian black pine because they're very resilient to wind and they're found all over central Europe as well, so they go as far down south as Turkey I believe. So with our summers getting warmer, they should have a good chance at being able to withstand some dry conditions as well."Ben added that he hopes some areas just off the Railway Walk can become extra green spaces for islanders to enjoy and even go foraging in for wild fruit. Among the volunteers who have joined Jersey Trees for Life to carry out parts of the replanting is Warwick Long, CEO of HSBC for the Channel Islands. He told ITV News it felt "refreshing" being out in the open, helping the team in a project which benefits the community. Warwick said: "It's been refreshing. We've had some hail, we've had some rain but it's just great to be out."
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