MORE than 2,000 people took part in RSPB Arne’s annual ‘Pull a Pine for Christmas’ event this year.

Around 40 hectares of heathland was cleared of small pine trees by the volunteers, who – according to event organisers – will have saved the nature reserve approximately £25,000.

Rob Farrington, of the RSPB, said: “It’s just a win, win situation really. Visitors were able to take home a Christmas Tree-sized pine for free, and the RSPB saves time and money on clearing trees themselves, meaning funds are freed up to do more for wildlife in the area.

“It was brilliant, twice as big as any previous event has been. We had 2,021 people who signed in over the day.

“We think we’ve cleared about 40 hectares of heath, which is massive. It would have taken us probably a couple of years to have done it ourselves, as we’ve only got a tiny team, and this saves us about £25,000 which can be now be spent on doing something else for the wildlife.”

The project took place at the wildlife reserve near Wareham, 10am to 4pm, on Saturday. Every year thousands of pine trees have to be removed by hand to maintain the rare habitat.

Rob said: “The heathland habitat we have here at Arne is rarer than tropical rainforest. Over the last 200 years we have seen a massive 80 per cent reduction in Dorset alone.

“Heathland is not wasteland – it may look barren and bare but it is the most bio-diverse habitat in the UK.

“That is, more species of wildlife call heathland home than any other type of environment.”