Championing the Hedgerow

by Erin Flattley (Intern at BH)

Why East Lothian’s Hedgerows Matter

Across much of the Scottish countryside hedgerows are such a familiar feature that they can go almost unnoticed. Yet they are the quiet champions of the rural landscape aiding our farming, land stewardship and wildlife. In areas of intensive farming they act as key repositories for up to 95% of a farm’s biodiversity.

These linear features, largely comprised of native shrubs, are far more than simple field boundaries. For farmers, landowners, and wildlife alike, they are essential and performing multiple functions. Yet across Scotland they’re under threat. In East Lothian, one of Scotland’s most intensively farmed regions, evidence suggests that over recent decades they have been in decline due to insufficient management leading to increased fragmentation. Agricultural intensification from the 1950s onwards resulted in their widespread removal to enlarge fields and enable the access and use of large machinery as part of the post-World War II push for increased food production [1].

Aerial of Hedgerow

What are hedgerows?

Hedgerows are defined as “any boundary line of trees or shrubs over 20m long and less than 5m wide, provided that at one time the trees or shrubs were more or less continuous” [3]. In Scotland, rural hedges are comprised of native species such as Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Elder, and Hazel providing a key wildlife habitat that supports a wide diversity of both flora and fauna [2]. They can also include man-made structures such as fences and gates, due to them historically being planted as boundary lines between farms or other owned land [4].

There are approximately half a million miles of hedgerows in the United Kingdom, with over 13,000 miles (22,000km) in Scotland alone [5]. Around 118,000 miles of hedgerow have disappeared across the UK since 1950, limiting the benefits landowners, and wildlife have reaped for thousands of years [6].

What do they do?

One of the most powerful roles of hedgerows is their function as linear wildlife corridors: living strips of habitat that link one patch of countryside to another [5]. Hedgerows help animals move safely across fragmented habitats, broken up by transport links, urban development and agricultural fields. Small mammals (including bats), birds and insects use hedges as sheltered routes between feeding, breeding and resting areas, enabling them to travel greater distances without crossing open, risky ground. This connected network is vital for healthy populations of wildlife.

As well as their vital role as wildlife corridors, hedgerows support over 2,000 different species including pollinators [7]. This includes 130 species with high priority for conservation according to UK Biodiversity Action Plan, such as hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) and pine martens (Martes martes) [8]. They are particularly valuable for biodiversity in areas that are intensively farmed acting as habitat, food source, and shelter.

Protection for species isn’t the only way hedgerows help in the fight against climate change. The vegetation within hedgerows sequester carbon at twice the rate as that of trees – this means that carbon dioxide is captured and stored in their woody biomass, as well as roots [9,10]. They also lead to healthier soils that can store more carbon. It takes up to 50 years for hedgerows to reach peak soil carbon storage – so old hedges are disproportionately more important [12]. This soil carbon is lost back to the atmosphere rapidly when hedges are lost, which constitutes a large threat of losing existing hedges [13].

For farmers, hedgerows are key to their success for a variety of reasons. On top of improving soil fertility, they provide shelter from wind and control water run-off, reducing the risks of soil erosion and flooding, a growing problem across the country [5]. Hedgerows are also natural, long-lasting, self-renewing boundaries for managing livestock while also provide effective shelter protecting animals from weather conditions such as high temperatures and winds [1].

The condition of Scotland’s hedgerows

So, what’s the condition of hedgerows in Scotland? In short, Scotland’s hedgerows are declining. Scotland has over 22,000 km of hedgerows, but significant losses have occurred over the course of the 20th century. It’s estimated that around half of Scotland’s hedgerows have been lost in recent decades, largely due to changes in farming patterns and field enlargement. Increased investment in hedge management is needed just to restore the hedgerows we have, let alone plant new ones.

Across Scotland hedges are not in ideal condition with many boundaries replaced by fences. Only about one-third of Scotland’s hedgerows are considered in good health, with the rest degraded, gappy or neglected [4]. This means many rural landscapes are losing the connective arteries that hedgerows provide – reducing habitat quality and weakening wildlife corridors.

In partnership with East Lothian Hedgerow Restoration Group and Climate Hub

Why does this matter?

When hedgerows are in poor condition or disappear altogether, the services they provide for wildlife and landowners alike are completely lost. Soil and water resilience falls, reducing the overall capacity of farmland and leaves land more liable soil degradation and flooding- further fragmenting landscapes. Wildlife loses safe routes between habitats, isolating plant and animal species, particularly small mammals and insects. This creates weak food webs due to the lack of support for the hundreds of species that rely on them from pollinators to small mammals, contributing to unhealthy ecosystems.

In short, the loss and decline of hedgerows diminishes both ecological health and the natural benefits that working landscapes depend upon.

What’s being done and what can I do?

Hedgerows sit at the meeting point of productivity and conservation. They support farming, protect land, connect wildlife and enrich the landscapes we all enjoy. But many of them are struggling; restoring them takes awareness, care and action from farmers, landowners and communities alike. In a time when nature needs space to move, adapt and recover, hedgerows offer something remarkably powerful: connectivity. Not just between fields, but across the countryside and its many forms of life, and in the community groups helping restore them.

Across East Lothian, local groups are stepping up. We at Balanced Horizon are working with the East Lothian Hedgerow Restoration Group to build relationships with farmers and landowners. The group have enlisted support from a large number of local volunteers to survey existing hedgerows, train people in traditional skills like hedge-laying, and plan restoration across multiple landholdings [11]. The aim is to bring neglected hedges back into good condition and plant new ones -stitching the landscape back together again, one hedgerow at a time. While planting new is important, restoration is vital to the improvement of hedgerow quality.

If you are interested in getting involved in hedgerow restoration in East Lothian, please go to the below web page for more details about opportunities available for landowners, community groups or individual volunteers:

East Lothian Hedgerow Restoration: piloting a wildlife corridor – East Lothian Climate Hub

There is useful guidance on creating and restoring hedgerows on the Farm Advisory Service website:

www.fas.scot/downloads/technical-note-tn738-hedges-carbon-conservation-compliance/?mc_cid=27b807114d

Video on coppicing hedges to rejuvenate them: youtube.com/watch?v=8nJ8YLnsBPg&si=vpY5u9mklC0VS7mx