Red squirrel population in Yorkshire will benefit from £10m funding boost to create more woodlands

The donation, which coincides with The Woodland Trust’s 50th anniversary, will fund projects that will remove around 330,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere - equivalent to the emissions created by one person taking more than 300,000 transatlantic flights.

The projects will occur across the UK at a number of Woodland Trust sites including three ‘Hero’ sites – one of which is Snaizeholme, near Hawes.

Aviva describes it as one of the boldest projects in the Yorkshire Dales to create one of England’s biggest new native woodlands as part of a large habitat restoration project.

It will include upland blanket bogs, limestone pavement and riverside meadows. It will also improve ecological connectivity by establishing natural corridors which link habitats together, support the local population of red squirrels, as well as delivering multiple benefits for water quality, reducing flooding and storing carbon.

Back in June 2021, The Woodland Trust took on 550 acres of grazing land at Snaizeholme and the site is one of 17 Red Squirrel Refuges in northern England, which are areas of woodland that are managed and where red squirrels are encouraged to thrive.

The other projects set to benefit from the £10m are at Norfolk where a site will be transformed into a mosaic of broadleaf woodland, wood pasture, grassland and hedgerows and at Lancashire for restoration work on the edge of Bolton, the largest site the Woodland Trust has ever acquired in England, which will rewet the peat bogs that lie across the highest points of the estate.

The donation - part of Aviva’s £100m commitment to remove carbon from the atmosphere using nature-based solutions - builds on the donations Aviva made in the last six months to the Wildlife Trusts in the UK and The Nature Trust in the Republic of Ireland. It also supports Aviva’s ambition to make the UK the most climate-ready large economy.

Claudine Blamey, Aviva Group Sustainability Director, said: “Our £10m donation over the next five years will not only help to remove carbon from the atmosphere but will also improve biodiversity.

"Our woodland creation projects will improve nature corridors, support red squirrels which are under threat, improve water quality and slow the flow of ground water in periods of flooding.

"The peatland work will rewet and restore bogs so that they can switch from emitting carbon to removing it and help prevent wildfires which we are seeing more of in the UK as a result of climate change. The sites will also deliver improvements in the local community by helping to improve local air quality and create new reserves that people can enjoy for free.”

Aviva employees can take three days paid volunteering leave every year and will have the opportunity to use their volunteering leave at Woodland Trust venues including the hero sites that are part of this project.