Skip to content

Major hedgerow restoration project begins on farm

Katy PrickettCambridgeshire
National Trust/Mike Selby Two men in National Trust jackets leaning over a row of staked plants which stretches behind them. On either side are fields. National Trust/Mike Selby
Staff and volunteers planted 30,000 trees this winter as part of the project

A major 10-year hedgerow restoration programme is under way at a large National Trust farm.

The conservation charity plans to plant or restore about 23km (14 miles) of hedges on its 1,000-hectare (2.5-acre) estate at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire.

The trust said this would create habitat for wildlife as well as support the working farm by creating firebreaks and protecting soil from erosion.

Wimpole's farm and countryside manager Dave Hassall said: "Each section of hedge that we restore makes the whole network of bigger and better."

It would also improve "how the landscape functions as a connected system and making it more resilient to our changing climate", he added.

The Wimpole Estate includes a grand mansion, parkland, gardens and a working farm.

National Trust/Dougie Holden A small finch-type bird called a linnet perched on a plant. It is in shades of brown with reddish tints above its beak and on its chest. National Trust/Dougie Holden
Flourishing hedegrows can provide food and shelter to rare farmland birds such as linnets (above)

The trust said staff and a team of volunteers had planted 30,000 trees and coppiced or laid 2.3km (1.4 miles) of hedgerow this winter.

The work is designed to help the hedgerows flourish by encouraging flowering and fruit as well as providing food and shelter for wildlife.

They provide habitat for red-listed farmland birds such as corn bunting, yellowhammer and linnet, as well as winter food for visiting species including fieldfares and redwings.

National Trust/Mike Selby A hedgerow rising up a hill with a shrubby tree growing out of it on the lower level and another on the brow of the hill. There is grass on the right side of the hedgerow and grass and another hedge on the left. National Trust/Mike Selby
Many of the estate's hedgerows had become uneven with gaps and required restoration, said Dave Hassall

Hassall said: "We are using well-established, traditional techniques to restore our network of hedgerows.

"Laying and coppicing hedgerows can seem quite extreme, but the hedges quickly grow back bigger and better than before.

Wimpole Estate includes a grand mansion, parkland, gardens and a working farm.

The long-term programme was developed in 2023.

About 10% of the farm's existing hedges will be coppiced, 6.7km (4.1 miles) will be laid, and 13.8km (8.6 miles) of new hedgerow will be planted, equating to approximately 83,000 native trees and shrubs, the trust added.

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links
Trending Now