This Spring volunteers at Westcott Community Garden have been busy planting an edible ‘wild harvest’ hedge at St John’s churchyard. We applied to the Woodland Trust ‘Free trees for Schools and Communities’ programme and were fortunate to receive from them a variety of fruiting species: hazel; elder; dog rose; crabapple; rowan and blackthorn.
By planting this hedge we are hoping to help increase wildlife diversity in the churchyard, by providing shelter and a variety of flowers, nuts and berries for insects, birds and animals, as well as provide some foraging for us too! We are looking forward to learning how best to make good use of the harvests for preserves, jellies and drinks etc, whilst also doing our little bit to contribute towards increasing this important habitat.
Why are hedgerows important?
Hedgerows – which are either single or multi-species hedges with incorporated features such as banks, walls, ditches or gateways – provide an important habitat for many species of plants and animals. Thick hedging provides a good habitat for nesting birds and hibernating hedgehogs, while the base of a hedge gives shelter for small mammals, like dormice, and also for frogs and toads.
The RSPB says that ‘hedges may support up to 80% of our woodland birds, 50% of our mammals and 30% of our butterflies.’ Having a diversity of plant species that make up a hedgerow helps to support a greater variety of wildlife. Many declining species rely on them to survive. The hedgerows crisscrossing our countryside act as wildlife corridors, providing safe passage linking habitats together.
‘If the woods are the lungs of the land, the hedgerows are the arteries.’
Richard Negus, working hedgelayer*
Hedgerows are also important ‘pollution busters’, capturing carbon and absorbing other pollutants to help clean our air. They also help prevent flooding and soil erosion by absorbing water and holding soil together. They can also play a valuable role in lessening the amount of polluting fertilizers, pesticides and sediment that reach streams and rivers, by acting as a physical barrier and through increasing filtration into the ground. Hedges can also help shield animals and crops from extreme weather – something that we’re increasingly at risk of.
Managed habitat
Being entirely man-made, the creation and maintenance of hedgerows is a great example of a positive collaboration between humans and the natural world, being beneficial to each. Hedgerows attract a range of insects, birds and mammals which are natural predators to other creatures that may be damaging to crops. They also attract crop pollinators.
The art of hedgelaying is a valuable ancient, rural skill, which is in need of more practioners. Hedgelaying involves partially cutting live trees to enable them to be laid at an angle, to allow growing from the base. Laying a hedge encourages strong new growth which revitalises the hedge as a whole and helps to fill gaps where parts have died off. This helps to create thicker hedges and also forms a year-round impenetrable barrier, whereas just constantly trimming hedges encourages growth on the outer edges but tends to cause the insides to hollow out and weaken.
A programme of hedge management over a period of about 20 years, ensuring that hedges in an area are at various different stages in the cycle, can help maximise the range of habitats suited to a wider variety of birds. Hedge cutting should not be done between 1st March and 31st August in order to protect nesting birds and should preferably take place in January or February, after most of the berries have been eaten by birds.
Hedge-planting, or restoration, can be a great community-building activity and those who have invested time in creating part of the living landscape are likely to have a keen interest in its future thriving. This time of year hedge surveying is another way to get to know local hedgerows better, whilst providing valuable information to help determine hedgerow health and management advice – find out more at www.hedgerowsurvey.ptes.org
National Hedgerow Week runs from 6th to 12th May – www.hedgelink.org.uk has details of how you can get involved!
Jakki Phillips
*’Words from the Hedge’ by Richard Negus soon to be published https://unbound.com/books/words-from-the-hedge