Harry Ewing is heaping branches and foliage from the forest floor on to a dead hedge, reinforcing the protective circle around his newly planted trees in Hadley Wood, north London. He is in a glade created by a fallen oak that was previously overrun with thick bramble.

“I feel very happy – the trees are growing already. It’s really nice seeing it when it starts,” says Ewing.

The 20-year-old is part of a group of young adults with learning disabilities who are transforming their environment and breaking into green sector jobs. They are working on a section of the London Tree Ring, an ambitious project to create corridors of plant and animal life around the capital.

In this section, new willow, hornbeam and hazelnut will diversify the age structure of the forest, and strengthen its biodiversity. Having strimmed away the bramble and planted the younger trees, Ewing and his co-workers are experimenting with different ways to protect them from deer.