Biodiversity

We are committed to improving biodiversity on our land and have actively engaged in a number of habitat improvement projects, including:

Woodland Planting

As part of our Net Zero 2035 ambitions, we have been engaging in a woodland planting project across our site.

More than 15 hectares of woodland has been created on sites both north and south of the airfield.

The following projects have been undertaken to date:

• Woodland Planting Phase 1 – in 2022, five hectares of woodland were planted in areas surrounding the solar farm. The woodland will act as a visual buffer in future years to mitigate the landscape impacts of the solar farm.
• Hedgerow Planting Project – In 2023, 4.5 hectares of new hedgerow habitats were created throughout the site. This included the creation of new hedgerows and gapping up existing hedgerows.
• Woodland Planting Phase 2 -  In 2024, we completed our largest habitat creation project. More than 10 hectares (17,000 trees) of woodland was created north of the Airport and Prestwick Road. 

The woodland planting has been delivered as part of the North East Community Forest, an initiative to increase tree cover across the North East.

By planting trees on site, we are helping to offset carbon emissions and enhance a green canopy across the region.

All woodland planting that has been undertaken as part of the North East Community Forest was designed in a way to limit additional bird activity.

The chosen species of woodland are not berry bearing and are therefore less likely to attract birds.

Over the coming years, additional areas of woodland planting are set to be developed on offsite locations in order to continue to offset carbon emissions and increase the size of the North East Community Forest.

Abbotswood

We own an area of land to the east of Airview Park known as Abbotswood.

This area is used by the local community for recreation purposes.

In 2022, we joined Woolsington Parish Council in setting out a range of enhancements to the area as part of the Abbotswood Management Plan.

Some elements of the plan have been undertaken over the past two years with the support of the North East Community Forest. This includes:

• Installation of bird boxes and bat boxes throughout the site.
• Installation of three new benches
• Planted 500 bulbs
• Planted six trees
• Innovative grass cutting methods to ensure increase in grassland habitats
• Planted 200 sapling trees

Further improvements at Abbotswood will include more tree planting, wildflower planting and the installation of new information boards.