From Wellies to Water Bowsers: Responding to the 2025 Drought

The beginning of March marked the end of one of the wettest eighteen-month periods on record in the UK. Reservoirs were full, soils were saturated, and after months of demanding fieldwork, there was every reason to believe the newly planted trees were heading into a successful growing season.

Then the weather changed.

What began as a welcome spell of sunshine quickly developed into one of the driest springs in recent memory. Weeks passed without meaningful rainfall, temperatures continued to climb, and by May it was becoming increasingly clear that newly planted trees across the country were under pressure.

For Future Trees Trust, the stakes were particularly high.

The resistant ash archives represented the culmination of a decade of research and around £1 million of public investment. At Craven Field, Oxfordshire, the newly planted oak seed orchard was the result of years of selecting, climbing and grafting exceptional trees. The prospect of losing this material during its first growing season was not something the team could ignore.

A Race Against Drought

Across England, many planting schemes suffered significant losses during the dry conditions, with some reporting mortality rates as high as 80 per cent. While Future Trees Trust’s archives and seed orchards are research plantings rather than commercial forestry schemes, the challenge remained the same: young trees needed water if they were to survive.

The team quickly moved into action.

With no water supply available on site, new infrastructure had to be put in place. Water bowsers were purchased, one based at Craven Field and another capable of being transported between sites. What followed was a summer of logistical planning, volunteer effort and practical problem solving.

At the Hampshire ash archive, watering began in May. Barely had every tree been watered once before the team found themselves starting the process all over again. The cycle continued throughout the summer as rainfall failed to arrive.

Support from a range of organisations helped make this effort possible. The team at Forestry England‘s Micheldever site provided access to water, while additional support enabled Future Trees Trust to purchase a 10,000-litre tank and commission specialist contractors to keep newly planted trees alive through the most difficult months.

At Craven Field, staff and volunteers worked together to ensure the developing oak seed orchard received the water it needed. Even established trees began to show signs of stress as the drought continued.

Keeping Years of Research Alive

The scale of the effort was considerable, but the results demonstrated its value.

By the end of the summer, fewer than 20 trees had been lost from nearly 3,000 planted at the Hampshire ash archive. At Craven Field, only four oak trees were lost despite the extreme conditions.

After months of watering, monitoring and worrying over weather forecasts, rainfall finally arrived towards the end of the season.

The archives and orchards had survived.

For a team accustomed to winter fieldwork, graft collection, planting and data collection, the summer of 2025 provided a very different challenge. Yet it also reinforced the importance of long-term stewardship. Establishing improved trees is only the first step. Ensuring they survive to deliver benefits for future generations is equally important.

Lessons for Future Forestry

The drought also provided valuable lessons.

Climate models have long predicted that extreme weather events will become more common, and conditions experienced during 2025 offered a glimpse of the challenges forestry may increasingly face in future decades.

Future Trees Trust believes resilience will be built through a combination of approaches. Genetic diversity remains essential, ensuring populations can respond to changing conditions over time. The use of a range of provenances, including material originating from more southerly locations, may also help improve resilience in future planting schemes. The timing of planting, particularly ensuring young trees are established while soils still contain sufficient moisture, is another important consideration.

The experience reinforced an important message: creating resilient future woodlands is about more than selecting the right trees. It is also about understanding how those trees establish, survive and grow under increasingly unpredictable conditions.

The summer of 2025 tested years of research and planning, but thanks to significant effort from staff, volunteers and supporters, the archives and orchards came through one of the most challenging growing seasons in recent memory.