TWIG was formed in 1995 and in partnership with the Woodland Trust created a 10 acre woodland at Great Holland Pits called Holland Mill Wood.   Visiting the site today one can barely imagine that not so long ago it was a field of wheat or oilseed rape. Holland Mill Wood is a real success story.

TWIG has now been re-launched with the aim of planting thousands of trees in Tendring over the next few years to create traditional working Essex woodland and hedgerows and a few miscellaneous fun projects.

TWIG is an independent community project working for and on behalf of the people that live, work and visit Tendring.  TWIG works primarily with the Woodland Trust, but generally it is not aligned to any particular organization or political party, and has a philosophy of 'co-creation'.  Working with landowners, service & product suppliers, charities, local government, conservation groups and subject matter experts.

Below are the latest 'TWIG tweets' - you can follow them all @TWIGproject

Three Sisters Wood (1,100 trees 2013) is a new 2.5 acre wood located at Ainger's Green near Great Bentley on the former Weeley Heath.  An area of high ground and sandy soils - making excellent farming land.  It is a project involving a local farmer, the Woodland Trust and the Forestry Commission.

Ecologically, it is a fantastic project.  Creating a 20 x 500 metre corridor between two existing ancient woodlands (Stocket's Grove to the left and Bowshot's Wood to the right).  This corridor, planted with native broad-leaved species, will facilitate the movement of wildlife between the two isolated woodlands. 

The picture below of Stocket's grove shows the landscape the new wood has been planted in.  The soil here is easy to work and the field in view is planted to turf to be used in gardens and sports stadiums.  Since the photo was taken it has been harvested and now planted to potatoes and onions.

The last photo shows the corridor planted up - brown, dry and dusty, despite a wet summer and winter, and it is hard to imagine what a wonderful wood this will be.  Give it tens years though and it will be wonderful.

Nugget's Wood (800 trees 2012) is located on an interesting site at Foxash near Lawford.  Geologically it is on an area of 'brickearth' - a windblown soil deposited after the last ice age and in many areas used to make bricks.  In 1934 this area of Tendring was set up as a Land Settlement Association site by the Carnegie Trust.  Small holdings of 5 to 7 acres to grow fruit and vegetables were established for unemployed miners from the north of England and from Wales.  Consequently the area has very few trees and the Nugget's Wood planting of traditional lowland English trees will be an ecological gem, an island in a barren landscape.   The trees were supplied by the Woodland Trust as a Diamond Jubilee MOREwoods package.

The owner is a Crufts winning breeder of Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs and the wood is being named after her first dog who was called 'Nugget'.

We also had some fun planting the trees at night - a 'lunar planting' to coincide with a new moon and the Spring Equinox.  Ably helped by the Lawford scouts with a night time BBQ to follow.

Owl's Flight Dell (105 trees 2012) is a site located just on the outskirts of Lawford.  In the spring of 2010 a community orchard was planted and bar one or two losses has done very well.  However, the site is windy and exposed and the local parish council along with Highfields Primary School used a free Community Tree pack from the Woodland Trust to create a hedge that will act as a windbreak. 

The planting is also phase 1 of a Diamond Jubilee project and included an oak sapling from a royal estate. In the autumn some crab apple trees will be planted along the route of the Essex Way that passes nearby to give a nice blossom avenue in the spring.

Elm Todd (1,200 trees 2012) is located in the parish of Little Clacton and an excellent place to plant trees - being close to the Essex Wildlife Trust's Great Holland Pits, the Holland Brook SSSI and the first wood planted by TWIG and the Woodland Trust.  The site is characterised by some degraded hedgerows and the plantings have been designed to improve them and add to the ecological richness of the area.  The project is using a MOREwoods package from the Woodland Trust.

A small group of Common or 'purging' Buckthorn have also been planted to attract the Brimstone Butterfly whose larvae feed on the tree.

The farm is also known as 'Elm Todd' because of a solitary elm that once stood there (derived from the Cockney Rhyming slang - "on your Tod Slone" - cf. all alone).  The original elm is long gone so the chance was taken to plant a new one.

Jaywick Sands (420 trees 2012) was once known as the 'happiest resort in Essex' with many thousands of people spending wonderful holidays at the resort.  Sadly in 1953 the area was badly flooded and has never really regained its former glory.  A free Community Tree Pack from the Woodland Trust has been planted around a community allotment and in just a few years will add a 'green lung' to the village and a valuable roosting and feeding site for migrating birds that have just flown the 100 miles across the North Sea from the Netherlands.