The first 20,000 acorns are set to be planted by Warwickshire tree nursery.

Warwickshire County Council recently announced that it would spend £140,000 on the 20-acre nursery as it aims to plant a tree for every resident in the county within the next eight years.

The planting will restore long lost patches of forest and woodland, such as the ancient Forest of Arden, which once covered most of the county and beyond into Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

WCC also said the tree planting will play a "significant role" in its commitment to address the climate emergency.

The tree nursery, which has been established on a council-owned smallholding, includes:

• Polytunnels with automatic watering systems to save water.
• A storage area for tree stock as well as equipment.
• Compost for the site comes from the WCC forestry team maintenance waste and green waste from the waste and environment team is being composted for use as an alternative to peat.

Should all 20,000 acorns germinate it will represent the nursery's first year target.

More planting is also planned for the spring.

The council said, should all the newly planted acorns reach maturity as Oak trees, they will have the capacity to capture over 20,000 tonnes of CO2 over their lifetimes (around 500 tonnes per year).

Surplus whips and saplings will also be sold to other organisations and businesses in the county.

Cllr Heather Timms, portfolio holder for heritage, culture and the environment, said: "It's great news for the whole of Warwickshire that our nursery has got off to such a great start getting so many acorns in the ground.

"The global reduction of woods and forests and associated habitat and biodiversity loss is one of the greatest damages that we have done to our planet and its ecosystems.

"Renewed tree planting across the world will be integral our response to the mounting climate crisis, which is why we committed resources to establishing our tree nursery.

"The Woodlands Trust have stated that to meet the UK's carbon net-zero target, it will need to plant at least 1.44 million hectares of new forestry across the country.

"In Warwickshire, we are fully committed to playing our part in this huge tree planting challenge and this will be underpinned by our own tree nursery giving the County access to trees with the lowest possible carbon footprint and at market competitive prices."