Author: Chris Hodgson 

Driving through the East Devon countryside recently and last winter, I was struck by how severe the hedge cutting appears to have been. Indeed, in many cases, rather little of the original hedge was left. Whilst the state of these hedges is probably the result of many years of trimming, it is clear that they are not in a good state. 

Hedges of one sort or another are an iconic feature of the English lowland countryside and are one of the country’s most widespread and precious types of habitat. The word 'hedge' possibly comes from the German (Hecke) or Dutch (haag), meaning 'enclosure', and the function of the first hedges was as a barrier. 

However, in the intervening millennia, their role has changed, and those that remain now have greater importance and are recognised both as part of our cultural heritage and historical record and for their great value to wildlife and the landscape. In particular, they serve as important wildlife corridors, especially here in the UK, where they link the country's fractured ancient woodland. As the land within a few metres of many hedges is difficult to plough, sow, or spray with herbicides, the land close to hedges also typically includes high plant biodiversity. Hedges also serve to stabilise the soil and help prevent soil creep, and the leaching of minerals and of plant nutrients on slopes. Hedge removal thus weakens the soil and leads to erosion. In addition, the increased earthworm diversity in the soils under hedgerows also helps to store organic carbon and support distinct communities of fungi. 

The current network of hedges in rural England is estimated to have been in existence for more than seven hundred years, probably originating in the medieval period, although the earliest “hedges” are believed to have appeared in the Bronze Age. These early farms are thought to have had fields about 0.1 hectares (0.25 acres) for hand cultivation. As the first farmers began clearing small areas for cultivation, they left strips of trees as boundaries. When cut or browsed by livestock, these trees adopted dense and vigorous new growth, which became not only stock-proof, but also windproof – greatly enhancing the survival of any crops within. These original hedges cost nothing to create, required no importation of materials and, in time, yielded valuable materials such as wood products (whips and poles) and fruits, berries, nuts and flavourings. This network still exists – some of them still following the ancient lines of feudal and parish boundaries. 

Some old hedges retain the flora of the original woodland, sheltering specialist woodland species such as bluebell and speedwell, while the extra sunlight encourages edge-loving plants to colonise the sward on either side. These older hedges – many several hundred years old – consist of a wide range of species, typically distributed at random. However, most newly planted hedges contain many fewer species, typically three or four. Originally, hedges included trees that were allowed to grow tall and served as immovable boundary markers, and these older hedges still include many of our oldest and grandest trees – veteran giants whose huge girth and spreading form reflects having grown in the open away from other trees as in woodlands. 

Farming expansion in the 15th century led to more widespread hedge planting, but the greatest use of hedges came during the Enclosure Movement of the 18th and 19th centuries. The name “Enclosure Movement” is used to describe the habit of wealthy landowners enclosing common land for their own use, usually for the purpose of raising sheep. Although hedge removal began during the Napoleonic Wars, this accelerated after World War II. Since then, decades of agricultural intensification have seen ever-larger farming machines being used, requiring ever more room to manoeuver. In addition, demand for cheaper food has placed great pressure on profit margins. Tens of thousands of miles of hedge have been ripped out in the last fifty or so years. 

Many of the hedges crisscrossing our arable land now have their margins stripped by flailing and their roots severed by ploughing to squeeze in one more row of wheat or other arable crop. Hedges are no longer just trimmed, but flailed, ripped and brutalised. Many have lost all their horizontal structure, having not been properly laid for decades. And this leads to gaps, some small, that could be stopped with a couple of plants, but others wide enough to drive a combine harvester through. Many are gone altogether. Along with the hedgerows, we have lost the flowers, the cover and the larval foodplants for pollinators and other insects, the weed seeds and nesting sites for farmland birds, and the highways and hiding places for small and medium-sized mammals. The many bodies and agencies that are interested in hedgerows state that, while recently the length of Britain’s hedgerows has remained relatively stable, most are ‘in poor condition’. 

Making Space for Nature ecologist John Lawton emphasised the pressing need for wildlife habitats in the UK to be bigger, and more and better connected. In an ideal England, there would be a national network of habitats – joined by wildlife highways that allow species to spread and disperse. Conservation efforts have introduced incentives to farmers to maintain the hedges, and losses have slowed somewhat. Estimates vary, but there may be upwards of 500,000 miles of hedgerows in England today. 

The OVA subscribes to the CPRE (Council for the Protection of Rural England). They recently conducted a survey of 1,100 farmers that concluded that farmers strongly support any government support for improving hedgerows – the farmers see the benefits. Indeed they consider that the nature-boosting attributes of hedgerows to be the greatest benefit, followed by others such as providing crop shade and attracting pollinators and pest predators. The key findings were: 

• the vast majority (86%) of farmers say that hedgerows are important to them and their business, 
• overall, six in ten have planted some hedgerows in the past 10 years, 
• 70% cited cost as the biggest barrier to planting hedgerows, 
• 70% would plant more hedgerows with improved government incentives, 
• 86% see wildlife habitat/nature corridors as the top benefit of having hedgerows, 
• massive support (80%) for a new government target of 40% more hedgerows by 2050. 

In response, under the new Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, the government has finally announced [Feb. 2023] an ambitious target to create or restore 30,000 miles of hedgerows by 2037, and 45,000-miles of hedgerows by 2050. However, this requires adding over 4,000 miles of new and restored hedgerows per year, starting now. Whilst this is obviously excellent news, we wait to see whether it will be implemented – something for which governments do not have a good record. 

In the meantime, it seems obvious that huge benefits could be obtained by nurturing the hedges we already have and one clear way to start would be to be less ruthless when hedge cutting. Leaving an extra foot on top of a hedge and perhaps the same on each side would greatly help. Hedging is rather similar to pollarding – which, if done too often, kills the tree. So, might I suggest a much less heavy hand when “tidying” up the hedges next year?