Hedges

Hedges are traditional field boundaries. They are also massively important for wildlife, providing safety, food and nesting areas for animals and space for wildflowers, herbs and grasses. They also act as 'green corridors' connecting farmland habitats together and enabling wild animals to move in cover between them.

We are establishing new hedgerows along existing fence lines as well as dotting the existing and new hedges with traditional hedgerow trees such as oak and holly. We also try and 'lay' our hedges in the traditional manner. This, skilled rural craft, uses natural materials and gives the hedge a firmer base which makes it stronger and more valuable to wildlife.

We avoid trimming or machine cutting our hedges when the hedge species are in fruit as this removes an important winter food resource for farmland birds and animals.

Hedges were removed in high numbers across the UK as intensive agriculture took hold of the countryside after World War I. Today, with the environmental importance of the hedge understood, farmers are being encouraged to replant those removed.

Organic farming fact
A five year study by Oxford University, the British Trust for Ornithology, and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology UK on organic farming, found hedges were taller, thicker and on average 71% longer on organic farms than non-organic farms.