Hedgerow Heroes Returns!

Planting will soon get underway in the second year of our Hedgerow Heroes project.

Read on to find out how last year’s hedgerows have fared, where we’ll be planting this season, and how you can get involved.

Year one update

Last winter we planted 1,220 metres and restored 280 metres of hedgerow. With the willing hands of 74 volunteers, across 35 days within five months, we hand-planted over 6,000 little hedge plants. The sites are managed by Parish Councils, many of them next to recreation grounds or other public green spaces. We hope that planting these hedges will increase the biodiversity for wildlife and enhance the green spaces for the communities. Working in partnership with the five parish councils and with the support of the Forest of Marston Vale, we exceeded our aims for our first season of the Hedgerow Heroes project.

How did the hedges do?

The sites we planted had different types of ground and exposure, and with the significantly dry year, there were some winners and losers. Some losses are to be expected with all hedge planting, and we will be replacing plants that failed to establish.

The new hedge around the playing field at Greenfield did better than expected – it’s an open site and we were planting under already established small trees. It can only be assumed that the trees helped to shade the new plants rather than compete with them.

At Gravenhurst, again an open site and exposed to playground users, the good bark mulch seems to have helped the young plants through the summer – retaining moisture and reducing competition from other plants.

For some sites it’s difficult to pin down why things didn’t work out so well – sometimes it may have been a combination of things. Some areas were very wet when we were planting and then had to endure the dry summer.

But it wasn’t just the natural elements that the plants had to contend with. The canes that support the tree guards had been removed at many sites – it seems that small bamboo canes are just too tempting for role play and den building! This year we will try and increase our signage to discourage this and try and make the supports less obvious and more secure.

What are the aims for the new planting season?

Our initial aim is the start with just over 800 metres of hedgerows to plant, plus around 100 metres that we will replant where hedges failed to establish from last year’s planting. We hope to do most of the planting before Christmas so that the plants and sites will be in the best condition to help establishment.

Valuable volunteers

We are grateful to our band of willing volunteers who braved the weather last winter and look forward to working with many of them again this season. If you are interested in volunteering, please get in touch – we tend to meet in the middle of the week for two or three days, but you don’t have to attend every day. You can register your interest by emailing info@cprebeds.org.uk

What are we going to do in year two?

This year we have around 800 metres of hedge planting planned. The sites were mostly identified by parish councils to enhance a community green space. Through our Hedgerow Heroes project, and with the support of the Forest of Marston Vale and the National CPRE Hedgerow Heroes campaign, we can plant hedges and trees in places that probably wouldn’t otherwise have been planted by landowners. So, we are helping to enhance the countryside and greenspaces for the future.

Hedges and trees

Most hedges are made up of small tree species that are cut to maintain the hedge size. This year we are incorporating a few specimen tree saplings that will be left to grow above the hedges. We are also planting trees in open areas to enhance the public area at some sites.

Where are we planting hedges?

Here is a roundup the sites we plan to plant this season.

Stondon

There are a few sites within Stondon village. The village has a new community centre next to the playing field providing an opportunity for a boundary hedge along the street fence and to soften the landscape near the car park. Adjacent to the community centre, the parish council has asked for a series of wild cherry trees along the far side of the playing field, and a raised area to the end of the field will be planted with a grid of trees to provide shade and interest to an otherwise open space.

Within the village we will be planting a hedgerow along a wide verge between a key road through the village and a residential street. This ridge between the roads already has a few isolated trees, so the new hedge will link these and a few new trees that we will plant. We have looking forward to residents helping with the planting so that they can feel ownership and appreciate it as it grows.

Campton

Our planting will form part of a lovely community project to create a wildflower meadow beyond the recreation ground. The village has an established band of volunteers who maintain its green spaces, and this project will reward them with a less manicured area of meadow to enjoy. The parish council has already planned to plant some specimen trees to create a circular walk within the field, and we will be planting a tapestry of native hedge plants around the perimeter.

We are looking forward to involving the children from Campton Lower school who will be able to plant with our volunteers and then watch the hedge grow.

Wardhedges

Fittingly, the name Wardhedges may mean “protecting hedges”, in the context that, to ward is to protect. Within the parish of Flitton and we will be re-establishing a boundary hedge between the road and a field. The site already has a few trees and the remains of some old, isolated hedge plants that will be tidied and old wood removed so that we can create a new fuller hedge.

Gravenhurst

We will be planting around 100 metres of hedge to mirror the row planted alongside to the play equipment last year. This will frame the play area on two sides within the larger recreation ground.

The recreation ground sits on the edge of the village, surrounded by fields on two sides and housing on the other two. It is owned by a charitable trust and managed by the Parish Council.

We hope to be joined by some volunteers from the local community again, and that the weather won’t be as wet and windy as last year!

Southill

The new hedge that we will be planting will balance the woodland on the other side of the straight road on the approach to Southill. In addition to the mixed native hedge planting, we will be incorporating oak saplings to create an avenue as they grow and mature. Oak trees are a long-lived important tree for wildlife; no other tree species in the UK supports a greater diversity of life than an ancient oak. Oak trees support 2,300 species with 326 species dependent on oak trees for their survival.

Read more

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