Woodland Ambassadors

The Woodland Ambassador programme within the Forestry Commission helps to support trees, woodlands, and forestry across England.

Role of the group

From your local farmer to industry professional, the Woodland Ambassadors are volunteers who bring a wide range of experiences to the programme. They act as advocates for woodland creation and management, sharing their knowledge with peers.

Shared objectives:

  • become part of the drive to enhance woodland cover in the United Kingdom, bringing benefits to our community, the environment, and to future generations
  • work with the Forestry Commission to improve landowners’ understanding of the benefits of trees for agriculture and the environment, through our own experiences
  • share our experiences of woodland creation and participate in events
  • recognise the benefits of knowledge exchange and want to support the local community, by sharing our experience with landowners considering woodland creation

Current Woodland Ambassadors

The Woodland Ambassadors work across England within our regional teams. Your local ambassadors work closely with us to attend events in your region, offer farm and woodland walks, and share their experiences at every opportunity.

East and East Midlands

Chris Bawtree, Ground Control

Chris has always been passionate about trees and has delivered a number of woodland creation schemes across the country, including a 50-hectare project in north Essex. He is currently focusing on nature recovery projects and how habitat creation can be funded and effectively managed.

Hugh Dorrington, Aveland Trees

Since 1980, Hugh has been involved in tree supply and woodland planting, with hands on experience of all aspects of woodland creation and management of young woodlands. Hugh’s woodland, Nursery Wood, planted in 2008, won the RFS Gold Award for best small/farm woodland in 2017.

John Everitt, Chatsworth Estate

John is a fifth generation Chartered Forester who has carried out several woodland creation schemes across the UK. Following his studies at Bangor University, John worked in South Scotland in a number of roles, before becoming a Forestry Manager for Chatsworth Estate in 2016.

Peter Glassey, Burghley Estate

Peter was inspired to follow a career in estate forestry in the late 1980s after learning more about the impact of climate change. Peter first worked on an estate in East Yorkshire, before joining Burghley in 1992, and has been planting trees ever since, watching them grow and fill the landscape.

Jemima Letts, Chatsworth Estate

Jemima graduated in 2019 and during her studies received the Changing Attitudes Award from Confor, for setting up a successful social enterprise, Tree Sparks. Jemima is now an Assistant Forester and has become the youngest ever chartered member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters.

Justin Mumford, Nicholsons

Justin has worked in forestry in the East Midlands since 1999 and is the Director of Consultancy at Nicholsons. His experience includes developing large-scale woodland creation projects within the National Forest. His passion is working on lowland estates, where he enjoys re-integrating unmanaged woodland into an estate’s wider portfolio.

North West and West Midlands

David Bliss, Lowther Group

David is an enthusiastic tree planter, planting over 1200 hectares for the Heart of England Forest, showing his commitment to conservation and the environment. As the Director of Lowther Forest Company, he spearheads annual plantings exceeding 300,000 trees, leaving a lasting green legacy.

Philip Howard, Naworth Castle Estate

Philip lives in the countryside in England’s green and pleasant land. With almost 300 hectares of diverse woodland in North Cumbria, he wants to plant 60 additional hectares and create 120 hectares of woodland pasture in the next 3 years, leaving an improved countryside for generations to come.

Alexander Newport, Bradford Estates

Alexander took up full time management for Bradford Estates in 2019, continuing his family’s 900 years of stewardship. Inspired by his grandfather, the 6th Earl of Bradford, Alexander is eager to expand the woodland area from around 500 hectares to potentially 1/6 of their land holding in Shropshire and Staffordshire, or 800 hectares in the next 2 decades.

South East and London

Andy Bason, Matt Johnson and Sam Ward, Newhouse Farm Partnership

The team at Newhouse Farm take pride in championing regenerative agricultural practices, including trialling a silvoarable system. Together they farm nearly 1000 hectares including arable and pulses, as well as keeping a range of livestock. The farm has 80 hectares of woodland, which are managed to supply wood and woodchip to heat houses and commercial units across the holding.

Mike Bax, Courthope Farming and BTF Partnership

Mike has owned a 60-hectare woodland in the Weald for nearly 40 years. He organised Chestnut Underwood Auctions in the 1980s and 90s, sparking interest in woodland management. At Moat Farm, a biomass boiler burns 100 tonnes of hornbeam woodchip, improving biodiversity through coppicing and oak thinning. His focus now is water retention using ponds and streams, guided by the South East Rivers Trust.

Molly Biddell, Hampton Estate

Molly, Nature Based Solutions Manager at Hampton Estate, has been involved with a new century-long ecological restoration project to create a mosaic of priority heathland and wetland habitats, to improve biodiversity and climate resilience. Working part time at Knepp Estate, Molly is working to fill data gaps around carbon sequestration within naturally recolonising scrubland and trees and facilitates a local farming cluster in Upper Adur.

Sarah Dixon, Breach Park Farm

Sarah has worked to transform intensively farmed and chemically reliant land by adopting sustainable management techniques and alternative land uses. Balancing this with her corporate career in fashion and international business, she co-owns a consumer brand licensing agency. Her passion for land management allows her to step away from the laptop and enjoy the land.

Niel Nicholson, Nicholsons

Niel has followed in his forester father’s footsteps. An Edinburgh Forestry graduate, he started his career at Tilhill and the Forestry Commission. He then joined the family business Nicholsons, a forestry consultancy and contracting business, where he has been since 1992. He has been running this with his wife, Liz, and the business now covers landscaping and ecosystem services too. Niel is also the founder and director of the Forest Canopy Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.

South West

Andy Gray, Elston Farm Partnership and FarmWilder

Andy is a farmer and environmentalist, integrating silvopasture systems and diverse woodland on his land. He is particularly interested in experimental agriculture, profitable sustainability, water quality, and biodiversity, reflecting a deep commitment to nature and farming. He champions tree planting that offers opportunities and benefits to our food production.

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, Thousand Year Trust

Merlin, founder and Managing Director of the Thousand Year Trust, is a passionate advocate for restoring the UK’s Atlantic temperate rainforests. Raised on an upland hill farm in the middle of Bodmin Moor, Merlin is committed to preserving these vital ecosystems for carbon sequestration, ecosystem services, and human well-being.

Neil Macdonald, Orchard Park Farms

Neil, apple farmer and woodland owner, manages 23 hectares of mature woodland and has recently planted a further 14 hectares. His passion extends beyond cider and timber sales, hosting diverse activities in his woods, welcoming 7,000+ young visitors yearly. Advocating for woodland as spaces benefiting wildlife and people, Neil, inspired by childhood tree planting, believes in acting now for a lasting impact.

Rob Moore, J H Moore & Son

Rob has been a farmer for 37 years and transitioned his family farm from dairy to organic suckler beef in 2008, alongside running four holiday lets and course fishing lakes. In 2021, he sold their stock and by 2022, Rob personally managed the planting of 18 hectares of mixed woodland.

Alex Robinson, Zulu Ecosystems and Moor Wood Farm

Alex specialises in land management and ecosystem restoration, guiding landholders to establish natural capital baselines and identify where to unlock value. Alex is a Chartered Surveyor, a co-founder of Nature Capital, and a former British Army Officer. Alex is passionate about wildlife conservation and champions regenerative agriculture on his Cotswolds farm.

Sam Whatmore, Grascott Firewood

Sam planted over 85 hectares in the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1998. Today, the thriving woodland not only supports wildlife but provides income through kiln-dried firewood, timber, biomass, and more. Central to Sam’s management ethos is using woodlands to deliver long-term value to people while generating a variety of useful products.

Inez Williams-King, The Grower

Inez is a BASIS accredited environmental advisor, and an experienced landscape consultant. Inez has a wide range of experience in both rural and urban landscapes to increase the tree cover across the UK. In 2021 Inez and her partner Chris, were inspired to incorporate tree production into her family farm’s 5-year crop rotation, launching The Grower, a bareroot tree and hedging nursery.

Yorkshire and North East

Duncan and Emma Davids, Woodsworth Exploring and Woodsworth Managing

Duncan and Emma set up Woodsworth Exploring, a woodland campsite, to generate a sustainable income that funds management of their existing woods.  They also help other landowners manage woodlands through their tree services, management and ecology company, Woodsworth Managing. They are passionate about creating outdoor spaces, ensuring that nature can flourish for future generations, and finding ways for people to enjoy woodland with minimal impact.

Terry and Tracy Featherstone, High Meadows Farm

Terry and Tracy own High Meadows Farm. Together, they transformed their family’s northeast England farm into a green energy hub, incorporating ground source heating, a wind turbine, and numerous solar panels. In 2021, they planted a 14 hectare woodland and are committed to environmental stewardship.

Shaun Purkiss-McEndoo, Zetland Estate

Shaun is the Head Forester at North Yorkshire’s Zetland Estate, first joining the estate at age 15. He has strong connections within the forestry community, including RFS. Shaun has been the driving force behind Zetland Estate’s extensive woodland creation, resulting in over 100 hectares of new woodlands in the past two decades.

Mark Shipperlee, Living Woods CIC

Mark is a passionate woodsman who grows his own food. His love for woodlands drives him to explore, observe, and appreciate the complex structures that make up woodland. Mark dedicates a large amount of his time to the development of a woodland focussed not - for profit organisation that engages with people in creating, caring for, and connecting with woodlands. With extensive experience, he enjoys designing new wooded landscapes, from growing trees from seed to harvesting and beyond.

Contact

If you are interested in hearing more about the Woodland Ambassador programme, or would like to be involved, please contact your regional woodland creation team:

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