To be wildlife friendly it needs to provide a combination of shelter from the elements and predators, a supply of food and good breeding sites. A good hedge will be composed of a mixture of native species to encourage a variety of wildlife. Consider using 50% hawthorn in with a selection of three or four other species to add diversity. Other good species to use are blackthorn, field maple, dog wood, common alder, hazel, crab apple and holly. Once the hedge is established you can introduce climbers such as dog rose, honeysuckle and ivy all of which will increase the value to wildlife of your hedge

Plant your hedge by creating two staggered lines with plants spaced 30 to 45 cm (12”-18”) apart with the second row about 45cm (18”) from the first.

New hedges are best planted during autumn and winter (October – February). Avoid periods when the ground is frozen or water-logged. Dig over the area for planting, one spade blade deep and remove any grass or weeds. Bare rooted trees and shrubs (whips) will be cheaper than pot grown and are better for establishing a hedge. Most hedgerow trees or shrubs do not require any compost unless your soil is sandy or heavy clay.

You will need to weed around the base of your new plants for the first couple of years and water in dry periods during the growing season.The hedge can be lightly trimmed in the autumn every other year but remember to leave some of the hedge uncut to provide plenty of berries for winter and avoid cutting your hedge during the nesting season of birds (March to late July).

To provide more homes for wildlife; leave the grass long leading up to the hedge and leave leaf piles and log piles at its base to provide a variety of habitats for invertebrates and small mammals. Flowers such as snowdrops, primroses, red campions, dog roses, honeysuckles, foxgloves and violets can be planted at the base of your hedge – these will encourage insects to visit. Foxgloves are especially attractive to bees and honeysuckle will attract moths at night.

Mechanical fails or rotary driven cutters are widely used by farmers and landowners and the majority of hedges will recover from this. When cut by this method the hedge will look severely beaten for a few weeks. When the new shoots do grow back they will form multiple shoots and then branch outwards rather than up.

Landowners using a reciprocating bar cutter to cut the hedges will often leave a neater cut on the hedge with less risk of infection to individual plants within the hedge.

By law landowners are required to trim hedges back if they are alongside public highways, footpaths or any public right of way if it is preventing ease of access or affecting safety of the highway user to drivers or pedestrians. The debris from cutting must also be cleared up afterwards.

Under Cross Compliance regulations, which most agricultural land is now under, the cutting of hedges is prohibited between 1st March and 31st July to prevent nesting birds and other wildlife being disturbed.

The cutting of standard trees within a hedgerow is up to the landowner. If they are in one of the agricultural schemes such as the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) or Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) then there are rules and guidelines on hedgerow management. Ideal hedgerow management is not always easy to achieve. The ‘text book’ way to cut a hedge is to cut in an ‘A’ shape with a wide bottom and flat top to give good ground cover for nesting birds also to cut during the winter months to lessen disturbance to wildlife but this is not always possible for landowners.

The health of the mature trees is put at risk by infection when cut by flail mowers but the majority of them will survive. The longer outlook for them will be that they grow outwards and get incorporated into the hedge rather than grow up to be mature tress if the cutting continues. Without some form of management hedges will become gappy at the base and less attractive to certain wildlife species. Without the flail cutter it would be true that many more hedgerows would have been lost in the UK, as landowners would have grubbed far more out, prior to legislation which now restricts their complete removal.

Picture by Richard Brunton

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, no one can remove any hedgerow at a time when any bird nesting is disturbed - 1 March to 31 August. At all other times, a hedge between domestic properties or in a private garden is not protected by any law preventing its removal. However, the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 states that no countryside hedge can be removed without permission if it is more than 20m in length.
For further information visit:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/countryside-hedgerows-regulation-and-management

Picture by Tim Stringer

Bat boxes can be positioned on trees, buildings, and garden walls. If possible choose a site where bats are known to feed. Locate the box in a site that is sheltered from strong winds and heavy rain and that is not exposed to strong sunlight for long periods.

Place the box as high up as possible to avoid disturbance or predation by cats. Most bat species prefer boxes over 5m above the ground. If possible position the box near to a linear vegetation feature such as a line of trees or a hedgerow. This will help bats to navigate between their nest site and feeding grounds. If positioning a box in a tree, try to ensure that branches are cleared from around the box entrance so that the bats’ approach to the box is not impeded.

The best place to put up a barn owl box is at sites where barn owls are regularly seen. If barn owls are already using a building or a tree for roosting then providing a nest box may encourage them to use the site for nesting. There is no point in providing nest boxes for barn owls in areas that lack sufficient good habitat, such as rough tussocky grassland, for hunting. Nest boxes can be successfully placed in buildings such as barns or sheds, in trees or mounted on poles in open areas. Do not put a barn owl box within a woodland as they prefer isolated trees or trees on the very edge of the wood or along a hedgerow. Providing several boxes is a good idea as these provide additional roost sites and safe places for young owls when they first leave the nest site.

Picture by Danny Green

It is an order made by a local planning authority (in Norfolk this is done by the District Councils) which makes it an offence to cut down, top, lop, uproot, wilfully damage or wilfully destroy any tree protected without obtaining permission from the local authority. Its purpose is to protect trees which make a significant impact on their local surroundings. The order can cover anything from a single tree to woodlands, including hedgerow trees, but not hedges, bushes or shrubs. Further information is available from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tree-preservation-orders-and-trees-in-conservation-areas  


 Picture by Cornel Howells