Back in Anglo Saxon times, a hedge was used as an enclosure for livestock and in some areas, this is still their primary use today. However a hedge can be so much more than an enclosure, providing a natural habitat for wildlife such as the hedgehog, wood mouse, speckled wood butterfly, common toad, robin and grass snake. These and many more species may nest, feed, shelter and rear their young, all from the comfort of a hedge.
In addition, a hedge can provide shelter from the elements, and you’ll often see cattle and sheep using a hedge to protect themselves from driving wind, rain or the blazing heat from the sun.
What’s more is that a hedge has a natural ability to capture carbon dioxide and stores it as carbon in woody growth, roots, leaf litter and soil organic matter beneath the ground, all helping to reduce pollution and the effects of climate change.
Here at Courteenhall, we have been keen advocates of hedgerow preservation. Managing, maintaining and now increasing the hedges around the estate for the benefit of the environment, enhancing our natural capital as part of the Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme.
The estate is currently managing 4,928 metres of hedgerow under the new higher tier agreement, 13,880 metres of additional hedge is being laid and 3,227 metres of additional hedge is being planted.
Planting of new hedgerow and maintenance of current hedges, will take place over the Autumn / Winter period to regenerate the trees, allowing continuity in the hedgerow.
By doing this we can keep that hedge working for much longer than its natural lifetime. Without the regeneration the hedge will mature and start to die. Gaps will appear or trees will become wild and overgrown, becoming larger and larger, until you are left with just a few gnarly old individual trees.
So it’s a massive time investment to help support the improvement of the hedges throughout their lifetime, but very much a worthwhile exercise and one that looks aesthetically pleasing once completed.
An organisation that we support and work with, The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), are piloting a Hedgerow Carbon Code Study which will encourage hedgerow habitat improvements to increase the amount of carbon stored by hedges, contributing to British farming’s net-zero target and boosting biodiversity.
The Hedgerow Carbon Code includes a tool that will enable the carbon stored in a hedge to be calculated and verified, incentivising land managers to plant and manage hedgerows – an important part of the government’s new Sustainable Farming Incentive. The tool also has the potential to be developed further to monitor hedgerow biodiversity for calculating biodiversity credits.
At Courteenhall, we are delighted to be one of the pilot farms taking part in the study, working alongside the GWCT.
Dr Alastair Leake, project lead and GWCT Director of Policy and the Allerton Project said, “We are also looking at ways in which land managers who are already generating carbon and biodiversity benefits through good hedgerow management can be recognised and rewarded.” “Pilots have begun with three arable farms in England, where we are evaluating the practicality of the code and the carbon calculation tool and developing it with the input of farmers on the ground.
So during National Hedgerow week, which runs from 10th – 16th October 2022, we hope you’ll join us as we celebrate the biodiversity that our hedgerows bring and look forward to how they will develop into 2023.
For more information on National Hedgerow Week visit: https://hedgelink.org.uk/campaign/national-hedgerow-week/
For more information on the Hedgerow Carbon Code visit: https://www.gwct.org.uk/news/news/2022/september/hedgerow-carbon-code-good-news-for-uk-agriculture-climate-change-and-british-wildlife/
