Ashmarsh

Ashmarsh sits on just over ten hectares of land in County Durham: ground that has been pushed, drained, and worked for years. The plan here is simple and important: rebuild a native woodland of oak, alder, birch and the supporting species that belong with them. Once the young trees are in the ground, the site is allowed to grow into itself. That shift marks the start of long-term recovery: soil begins to knit back together, the canopy cools the ground, and wildlife gains routes to move through a landscape that has been fragmented for too long.

The site links up patches of habitat that were previously isolated by grazing and other productive land uses. As the woodland takes hold, it starts to reconnect these pieces into something coherent -- safe movement corridors for insects, birds, mammals and the rest of the living network that holds ecosystems together. Heavy rain, which is hitting the region harder each decade, is slowed by the growing canopy. Water is forced into the soil rather than rushing off the surface. Erosion drops, rivers carry less sediment, and the land becomes more resilient in the face of increasingly erratic weather.

More than twenty-three thousand native trees were planted here in the summer of 2019. Over their lifetime they’re expected to remove around 7,271 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere; slow, patient work that builds real carbon storage rather than chasing fast, shallow fixes. The gain accumulates year by year, rooted in the biology of the place instead of accounting abstractions.

Units from this site are PIUs - future removals that have not yet been verified. They support long-term restoration but cannot be used for neutrality or net-zero claims. If you need verified units that can be retired immediately for formal climate claims, our non-UK projects provide exactly that and are fully certified for those uses.

This woodland is Woodland Carbon Code certified, a quality assurance standard that’s backed by the UK government.