Hedgerows

Durham Hedgerow Partnership

For centuries, hedgerows have been an important part of the Durham landscape from the dales to the coast. As well as serving as living fences and providing shelter for livestock, they provide an important habitat for wildlife. Recent studies show, however, that this important wildlife resource is declining through neglect or inappropriate management.

The Durham Hedgerow Partnership, made up of local authorities, farmers, landowners and nature conservation organisations, was set up in 1997 to tackle the problem of hedgerow loss. The Partnership area covers Gateshead, South Tyneside, Sunderland and Darlington as well as County Durham.

As well as providing advice to landowners on hedgerow management and developing training for contractors, the partnership runs an annual hedgelaying and drystone walling competition to promote these traditional management crafts.
For details of the latest competition and copies of guidelines that the partnership has produced on hedge laying, hedge planting and hedge trimming see Durham County Council.

Hedgerow Grant Scheme

Financial assistance for renovating and planting hedges is available across the Durham Biodiversity Partnership Area through the Field Boundary Restoration Grant (FBRG) scheme.

Grants are available for the following works:

• Hedgerow restoration by laying, coppicing and planting.
• Creation of new hedgerows.
• Planting hedgerow trees.
• Protective fencing, where appropriate.
• Restoration of other boundary features.

For further information about grants for hedgerow restoration:
Simon Chivers
The Landscape Section
Durham County Council
t: 0191 383 3426
e: simon.chivers@durham.gov.uk

Durham Hedgerow Survey 2006

Durham Biodiversity Partnership undertook a comprehensive survey of hedgerows in the Durham BAP area during 2006. Funding was secured from DEFRA with Durham County Council leading the work on the survey and providing additional staff support.

The aim was to gather good quality information on the overall hedgerow resource, based on a measurement of it's overall length and an estimate of its condition. It was also designed to provide some comparison with previous surveys and a baseline against which progress can be measured in the future.

Results

The highlights of the survey report which has been produced include the following:

• Since 1979 an estimated 21% of the hedgerow resource has been lost in Durham.
• Only 17% of hedgerows are estimated to be in favourable condition (as defined by DEFRA).
• The majority of hedgerows are in unfavourable condition primarily because they are gappy or because the canopy height at the base is too high (i.e. they are 'leggy'). This can be due to lack of management or sometimes too severe and frequent cutting.
• Neglect is the biggest threat to our hedgerows, 62% of which are estimated to be unmanaged.
• We will need to recruit approximately 580 'isolated' trees into hedgerows every year to ensure that we retain the current number of isolated trees in hedgerows across Durham . This will involve new planting, but also tagging and retention of existing saplings in hedgerows.
  
  A longer summary of the results and recommendations for future work, as well as the full survey report, are available below:
  
  Hedgerow Survey 2006
  Hedgerow Survey Result Summary

Other links:

Dry Stone Walling Association - Northumbria
National Hedgelaying Society