The Hub
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Guardians UK is a registered charity in England and Wales.
We are based in the London Borough of Southwark, Pulborough, West Sussex and Ceredigion, Wales
Our mission:
Education
Health
Nature protection
Advance forest-based education and learning
aimed at climate action, sustainability
and nature protection
Promote health and healthy recreation by facilitating public access to green spaces through forest-related activities
Support protection and regeneration of native woodland in Southeast London, West Sussex and Wales
What we are doing
Our Hubs
Southeast London
Grange Lane Tree Rescue Hub
Located on a landstrip between Dulwich Wood and Grange Lane Allotments, Grange Lane Tree Rescue Hub is a 0.8 hectare area we protect and regenerate. Leased by GWW from the Dulwich Estate, the Hub contains a shed, a hut, several picnic tables, a community space, an eco-loo and a small pond. The land supports a large tree nursery containing 1,500 native trees, which we are growing from seed or which we have rescued from nearby lands, as well as an orchard and herb garden. We are also working on the regeneration of a dumpsite known as Plot 20, where we plan to create a Soil School.
South Downs National Park
Old Beard's Wood
Located near Pulborough in West Sussex, we are custodians of this woodland. This site is dedicated for immersive learning, educational activities, wellbeing and environmental work.
Tricorn and Turret Woods
Pen-y-Gaer, Rhydlewis, Llandysul
Transitional site converting from Sitka spruce to native broadleaf woodland with heathland glades, potential site for marsh fritillary butterfly and Celtic rainforest restoration
Guardians of the Great North Wood
Our London hub is located within the historic Great North Wood, which is the nearest ancestral woodland to any capital city centre in Europe, and a unique natural heritage, home to rare native species like the Jersey Tiger Moth, Wood anemone, Whitebeam and several species of bats.
Many species of special scientific interest can be found in Dulwich Woods and Sydenham Hill Woods-- the largest remaining fragment of the Great North Wood. From left to right : Common Whitebeam (Sorbus aria), Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria) and Wood Anemone (Anemonoides nemorosa).
We are working on the restoration of 9 hectares of sitka spruce plantation transitioning to Atlantic rainforest in Wales. The Celtic rainforest is the only rainforest system in the British Isles, and only 1% of its historic coverage remains.
Celtic Atlantic Rainforest restoration
We are restoring mosaic habitat, especially rhos meadows with Devil's bit-scabious, a plant essential for the life cycle of endangered species such as the fritillary butterfly. The heath fritillary (sometimes nicknamed the “woodman’s follower”) was almost extinct in the UK in the 1980s and is officially a UK Priority Species.
Mosaic habitat restoration for fritillary butterfly
Community-led restoration in London, West Sussex and Ceredigion
We work with local communities and minorities in our three UK sites, especially with Gypsy, Romani and Traveller community members, Latino community members, Black and Afro-diasporic communities as well as Iranian and Afghan migrants and refugees.
About the Great North Wood
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Community
Great North Wood Heritage Trail Campaign
Grange Lane Tree Nursery
Gypsy Heritage of the Great North Wood
Funded by Heritage Fund
African Heritage
Funded by Southwark Council
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Peck River Clean-ups
Treemoot Festival
Funded by Arts Council England
Soundwood
London and Leeds
Funded by Leeds Conservatoire and University of Manchester
Little Guardians
Heritage Walks
The Weald Pilgrimages
Volunteering
We have volunteer days every two months where we invite members of the community, or anyone intersted, to spend a Saturday with us at the Tree Rescue Hub working on the land, learning about trees, soils, water and the ricj biodiversity of the Great North Wood.
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Reforestation
The thousands of trees we grow at our London hubs are intended to be planted on sites dedicated to reforestaton and regeneraton across the UK, in both urban and rural settings.
Two dedicates sites, both considered priority habitats under the priority habitat UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) and Annex I EU Habitats Directive, are our main reforestation focus.
Pen Garn-Wen (Wales)
Title no.: CYM596072
Location: latitude & longitude 52.118993, -4.377412
Size: 9 hectares
Clearfelled Sitka spruce plantation in transition to native broadleaf woodland with heathland glades, potential site for marsh fritillary butterfly (UK and European threatened species, protected under Appendix 2 of Berne Convention).
We are restoring this site for Atlantic ("Celtic") temperate rainforest/oak woodland restoration. r
NVC types:
W17 Quercus petraea – Betula pubescens – Dicranum majus woodland on acid soils.
Old Beards Wood
Lowland beech and yew woodland” — a priority habitat under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) and Annex I habitat Asperulo-Fagetum beech forests under the EU Habitats Directive.2.
Beech forest in West Sussex, South Downs area, are UK National Vegetation Classification (NVC):
W12 Fagus sylvatica – Mercurialis perennis woodland (Beech with dog's mercury) – common on calcareous soils.
Clean-ups
Guardians of the River
Rivers are living systems, and when they’re choked with plastic, rubbish and years of neglect, we believe the best response is to get our boots on, grab a pair of gloves and get to work.
From the Peck River and Thames to the Ambrook River, Meanwood in Yorkshire and the Teme in Wales, our river clean-ups bring people together to restore waterways and reconnect communities with the rivers running through their landscapes. Guardians UK’s own project list includes our Peck River clean-ups, while our wider Guardians network works on the protection and restoration of river basins internationally.
A river cleanup can start with picking up one piece of plastic — but it can end with a whole community becoming Guardians of their river.
Pietra Martin-Handfest
Youth Engagement (Intern)
Pietra is a Brazilian youth activist, founder and director of The Mangrove Collective.
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Dr Mercy Ette
Chair, Board of Trustees
Mercy is a British and Nigerian scholar specialising in media, conflict and women's rights. She is Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle.
Nic Salazar Sutil
Executive Director
Nic is a Chilean and British environmentalist, land defender and minority rights advocate.
Dr Maria Rovisco
Board of Trustees
Maria is a Portuguese and British social scientist. She is Associate Professor in Sociology at University of Leeds .
Bob Jacques
Board of trustees, Guardians UK
Bob is a soil scientist, former Researcher at the University of Aberystwyth and Guardian of Pencoedtop/ Pen-y-Gaer, a 9 hectare regenerative woodland in Ceredigion, Wales.
Lee Walther
Director, Guardians UK
Lee is a ranger and guardian of Old Beard's Wood a 4-acre native woodland in South Downs National Park, West Sussex.
Guardians UK is a registered charity in England and Wales
Charity Number 1214169
Grange Lane Tree Rescue Hub
Woodhall
Plot 20 Grange Lane
London
SE21 7LH
Pencoedtop
Pantybryn
Henllan
Llandysul
SA44 5TY