A Sustainable Christmas Tree

Are you looking for a way to be more sustainable and save money this Christmas? If yes, then read on, this blog post is for you!

The beautiful forest adjacent to the heath

For many years we have foraged for our Christmas tree. Marking the top trees during our dog walk and then returning at night with the car and a torch to cut it down and bring it home. That was until I realised that the RSPB run annual events where you can legitimately cut down your own Christmas tree and it is this that I wanted to tell you all about today (not the sneaking about in the depths of night, definitely not recommending you do that).

We have an area of beauty near us called the Bourne Woods which has in the more recent years been restored to its former heathland by the RSPB who bought this section of land from the Forestry Commission. The area had been turned in to a commercial conifer plantation during the 20th Century and is now being actively managed to return it to the ecologically important heathland of its past. The aim is to provide much needed habitat for birds like the nightjar, woodlark and tree pipit as well as the sand lizard.

Last years tree captured beautifully by Lulu

It is a continuous battle to keep the heathland clear of the conifers which pop up left, right and centre. So, the RSPB have set up events called “pull a pine” of which there are many dotted around the UK. Take a look at their website here to see if you can locate one near you.

So what happens at these events? Well essentially you all meet, have a cup of tea, take the dogs for a walk, let the kids run free and then you get to choose your tree and safely cut it down to take home. You benefit by getting a sustainable Christmas tree and you are helping out the RSPB by clearing the land of these unwanted trees. It’s a win win right?!

Vintage decorations captured beautifully by Lulu

Now I do have to warn you that these aren’t your bushy traditional Christmas trees so if that’s what you’re after walk away, there's nothing here for you to see. But let me show you what is so wonderful about these foraged trees, they have open branches, so you can hang many more decorations from them and I feel the tree takes on an intriguing magical look. The needles never seem to drop and because they have less bulk than your traditional tree they are easy to chop up and dispose of once the festive period is over. And they make you feel good, consider this activity your good deed for the week.

Each year I add a new decoration to my tree but much of what I decorate with is natural