England's water shortage is now a forestry problem.

There is a version of this summer's story you have already read a dozen times: hosepipe bans, brown lawns, warnings about showers.

Here is the version that actually lands on our sector. On 25 August, England's reservoirs sat at 59.8% — 18.2% below average for the time of year, with nine major reservoirs classed as exceptionally low and no part of the country at normal status. July was the driest since 1836, delivering just 6.5 mm of rain across England.

For anyone establishing trees, that maths is already showing up in the ground. Defra's own forestry assessment describes poor growth, higher tree death and the widespread need to replant dead trees, and the recommended responses are all things forestry contractors and management companies will recognise: plant earlier in the winter, lean towards cell-grown rather than bare-root, diversify species, underplant with more drought-tolerant stock.

Nurseries are applying for bigger abstraction allowances just to keep young trees alive, while nursery tree production has fallen 14% to 139.2 million Add a record wildfire season (over 1,100 fires attended in England and Wales, past last year's 1,017 which was also a record year) and the maintenance burden of a dry year is very real.

It is worth being honest about what trees do and do not do here. Trees can both prevent water loss and guard against future flash flooding. What woodland does not do is make more water.

That has a consequence for what gets planted. Water-catchment money tends to favour native broadleaf and riparian woodlands, which is already the shape of England's planting: 5,250 hectares of new woodland in 2025/26, down 8.9% on the year, of which only 670 hectares was productive conifer. Confor called the figures "very poor, and hugely disappointing".

This year has been challenging for forestry for lots of reasons: fuel crises, drought, wildfires. The businesses that will still be busy in ten years are the ones learning this language now and adapting.

Stay safe out there, and here's hoping for rain.

Jack

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What?: Rural & Forestry Valuer

Who?: Strutt & Parker

Where?: Scotland, Northern England

How Much?: £Competitive + Benefits

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🌲 Rainwater soaks into the ground around 60 times faster under woodland than under grassland which is why even a small, well placed shelterbelt does more for a catchment than its size suggests🌲

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