It has been an interesting day out at Ethicon in Kirkton, where the group planted several hundred trees a few weeks ago. Despite the rain, we had great fun removing mesh guards from the saplings. A diverse community of young trees, including hawthorn, holly and beech, are going to be trained into a hedge along one side of the car park, sectioning off a meadow area from a mature woodland and providing a useful “stepping stone” for insect and animal life.
For anyone interested, there is a basic introduction to the rationale of hedgelaying here. The young plants seem healthy and strong, and the landscaping is already making a difference to the complex.
Ethicon belongs to the decentralized Johnson and Johnsongroup, who collectively provide healthcare and biomedical science solutions across the world. Their aim is part carbon offsetting and part community development. The funding from larger companies such as Ethicon helps support BTCV in their work elsewhere, for example helpingout with local schools or providing training for young people or disadvantaged individuals. Whilst this may seem counter-intuitive to many people from environmental backgrounds, I personally believe that working with industry is a really positive step to encouraging wider interest in conservation and biodiversity. It is of fundamental importance that we provide skills training and experience on an individual basis, but it is all too easy to forget that we do also have a responsibility to improve environmental awareness in a white-collar or corporate context as well.Not only that, but we also usually get a free lunch… Today it was hot pies, which was certainly more than welcome after several hours of removing fiddly ties from tree guards (the ties, guards and stakes will all be reused) from sharp hawthorn bushes in the rain!