Gardening with
Wildlife in Mind

Hedges

Tens of thousands of miles of hedges were removed from the countryside in the last 30 years of the twentieth century. This process has now largely ended but its consequences are still being felt. Individual gardeners can compensate for the loss in a small way: even a few yards of hedgerow may support a great variety of wildlife.

Valuable for:

Butterflies like gatekeeper, meadow brown, large skipper, speckled wood, brimstone, green-veined white, orange-tip and holly blue; moths; mammals, including bank vole, wood mouse, weasel and hedgehog; birds including blackbird, song thrush, dunnock, robin, goldfinch, bullfinch, chaffinch, wren and warblers;
wildflowers like foxglove, primroses, lesser stitchwort, lesser celandine, red campion, Italian lords-and-ladies, garlic mustard, barren strawberries and wild strawberries, common dog violets and early dog violets, sweet violet, ramsons, wood anemone, wood sage, wood sorrel, wood spurge, yellow archangel, yellow pimpernel and many species of fern including hart's tongue, hard shield-fern, male-fern, Lady-fern, broad buckler and soft shield-fern.

Useful tips:

• Use a mixture of native species of tree and shrub. The species growing in nearby countryside hedges may be a good guide to those that will do well in your garden but most of the native species will do well even in very urban situations.
• Plant hedges from October to March: never in the summer or in very dry weather.
• Plant fairly densely: at least four plants per square metre.
• Native species are likely to be best for wildlife, especially insects and other small animals.
• If you want good security, and some protection for birds against cats, choose mainly thorny or prickly species like hawthorn, blackthorn or holly.
• Evergreen shrubs like holly and yew provide dense cover during the winter, and the dead leaves of beech and hornbeam often don't fall for a long time, so providing a good winter screen. They all offer good early spring nesting sites.
• Other possible species include guelder rose, wayfaring tree, spindle, hazel, field maple, dogwood and the native wild privet.
• Traveller's joy (old man's beard) may tend to take over but add climbers like the native honeysuckle, dog rose and bramble.
• Ensure that trees and shrubs are well-watered and mulched while they are getting established.
• Bare-rooted trees and shrubs (whips) are extremely cheap, less-demanding. (needing no stakes), more likely to survive than older trees and establish themselves very quickly.
• Be bold and prune the young trees and shrubs in the first year to encourage new growth at the base and thus a thicker hedge.
• An alternative is to try and grow plants from local seed: far more difficult but very rewarding.
• Conditions - especially light levels - at the base of hedges will change rapidly as the hedge grows, so it may pay to wait before trying to establish herbaceous plants or bulbs such as bluebells.
• If you can create a bank on which to grow your hedge, this will provide more opportunities for plants like primroses, violets and stitchworts.
• Use the base of the hedge for garden clippings and leaves to establish a richer soil.
• Yew is very slow growing. Holly and beech are good at remaining thick at the base for many years, while hawthorn and hazel need periodic coppicing or laying to keep them dense.
• Apart from brambles and roses, most native hedge shrubs produce flowers only on last season's growth. So, if you want berries and nuts, don't trim every year!
• Don't plant yew (or rhododendron) where horses or other livestock can reach it
• Never cut hedges during the nesting season (March to July).

Selected publications

Baines, C. (2000) How to Make a Wildlife Garden. Frances Lincoln Ltd
Beckett, K. & G. (1979) Planting Native Trees and Shrubs. Jarrold

See other garden wildlife habitats

Flowery meadows
Ponds and marshes
Walls and fences