‘Habitat’ hedging is not just environmentally friendly: it is practical and economically attractive. It can be done anywhere but fits especially with demands at big-city locations.

Hedging is enjoying a much-deserved revival thanks to its credentials as a sustainable land-management technique. Hedgerows and other ‘habitat’ gardening techniques are important ways to encourage biodiversity. They are good for insects, bees, butterflies, birds, and small mammals such as wood mice, voles, and bats.

To that extent, all styles of hedging are ‘habitat’ styles. However, there is merit, and an enthusiastic market, for the style which puts wildlife at the very centre of the art.

The style is good for human activity too. There’s ample scope for participation by diverse and inclusive local volunteer groups in parks and nature reserves. 

In some ways, it may be more important to build hedgerow habitats in cities because of the paucity of habitat. There’s also plenty of opportunity though there’d be much more if the typical ‘mow and blow’ management of inner-city green spaces is re-assessed.

Organisations with big ambitions to enhance the environment are discovering that ‘habitat’ hedging can play a hugely important part of green regeneration. 

Anna-Maria Cahalane-Macguinness (pictured) is one of the trustees of the Fourth Reserve Foundation, a small charity which looks after a stretch of woodland by a cutting on the London to Brighton railway. One section is officially classified ancient woodland even though it is only a couple of miles south of the City of London.

Says Anna-Maria: “We do a lot of habitat hedging at the Buckthorne Cutting Nature Reserve. Robert’s hedge laying skills have enabled us to embark on an important nature recovery project and increase biodiversity. The skills have enriched our site enormously.”

Traditionally, and still very importantly, hedges must be stock proof as soon as possible. In urban settings, stock proofing may be a secondary priority and if boundary barriers are required, the ‘stock’ in question may well be walking on its hind legs with headphones in and a mobile phone in hand! Yep, in the city, people are the megafauna mammals in need of care and direction. 

That said, a 150-yard mostly blackthorn hedge the urban farm Mudshute, in London’s Docklands district, was laid in 2021 in a stockproof habitat style. It is replacing a disintegrating paling fence. See the main photo at the top of this post.

“Sustainability is one of the core principles here at Mudchute Farm,” says Tom Davis, the Farm, Park and Open Space Manager. “When planning this project, it was important for us to buy in as little as possible. All the stakes and binders were grown here on the farm in our hazel coppice which combined with the ‘habitat hedging’ style and suited us especially as the laid hedge is also stock proof.”

“The low emission and high recycling techniques, together with the creation of good, tidy, hedgerow habitat, has impressed trustees, employees, volunteers and visitors,” Tom adds.

Low-impact habitat hedging can be economically attractive as well as realistically practical and environmentally useful.

‘Habitat hedging’ prioritises reuse of material while minimising waste, noise, and the use of fuel. Ideally, habitat hedgers can say they take nothing on to the site (apart from him or herself and a few tools) and take nothing away (apart from him or herself and a few tools).

Stakes and binders are sourced in the existing hedge, or nearby, while other thinnings are put back into the hedge and, or, used to create stand-alone dead hedges. 

But it’s expensive to bring in stakes and binders, which may have to be sourced from long distances. Heavy traffic makes collection also time consuming. Meanwhile, it is often impossible to burn waste. Chippers are loud and guzzle energy, and skips are very expensive.

Where fill-in hedging is required, and the soil is decent, it is easy and cheap to stick in simple cuttings take from hedging material on site, or near.

It is finding strong appeal among those with responsibility for parks, nature-reserves, and some private gardens. The drawback is the first-year appearance. Depending on the available materials, it can look a bit uneven.

So it’s unlikely to win anyone any prizes at regional let alone national championships. With some justification, the ‘habitat hedging’ style may also be frowned upon by those who know a lot more about hedging than I do.

Prizes may be off the agenda, but habitat hedging is a winner in the context of the preferences and practicalities of work in large metropolitan areas. There’s broader appeal for clients everywhere eager to promote the cause of sustainability.

This article was first published in the National Hedge Laying Society newsletter