Hedgerows crisscross the Norfolk countryside. They add beauty to our landscape, provide corridors for wildlife to move along, and are vital wildlife habitats in their own right. Some may be many hundreds of years old, marking the position of ancient boundaries, others will have been planted at the time of the Enclosure Acts (1750 – 1860), and many will be of recent origin. Norfolk has lost nearly half of all its hedgerows; many grubbed out in the decades after the Second World War. Thankfully hedgerow removal is much rarer today now their wildlife and landscape value is recognised. Not only are hedgerows important for the plants that they may contain, but they are also a valuable habitat for many animals, including over 125 of the UK’s most threatened species.
The future role of hedgerows is no longer seen as just a way of enclosing fields. They have an important role to play in helping us to respond to climate change. These linear habitats provide protection to soil, livestock and property from extreme weather; help wildlife to move in relative safety from one habitat to another and they even help to lock up carbon.
Let’s hear it for hedges…
A 2km hedgerow has the potential to store between 1,200 to 1,600kg of carbon dioxide, and there are more than 475,000km of managed hedgerow in Britain. The average car generates this much carbon dioxide by travelling 6,000 miles.
When is a hedge a hedge?
Generally a hedgerow is defined as any line of trees or shrubs, over 1m talk and over 20m long, less than 5m wide at the base and with less than 30% of the hedgerow being gaps.
Hedges function to create boundaries, and most have been developed by farming activity, many as stock-proof barriers to control livestock. Hedgerows are also commonly planted to form boundaries both within and between gardens, and these are also important for wildlife.
Hedges provide not just one habitat for wildlife but many: from dark, twiggy interiors, sunny outside edges, to dead wood and deep piles of fallen leaves. These varied habitats, a bit like a woodland edge, support a huge diversity of wildlife.
To view the Norfolk Habitat Action Plan for Hedgerows
click here.
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