Hedgerow Heroes – community driven habitat restoration

The Hedgerow Heroes project, which was partly funded through the Community Pollinator Fund, is a multi-year project to enhance the health and vitality of hedgerows across South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset. Launched as a community-driven programme, the project focused on restoring hedgerows that provide essential habitats for pollinators and wildlife.

Over a year, the Hedgerow Heroes project has planted 884m2 of new hedgerow, filled gaps in existing hedgerows, restored 628m2 of existing hedgerow through hedgelaying, and planted trails of wildflowers. 48 volunteers have also been trained in hedgelaying with some volunteers now using these skills to lay hedges in their own gardens.

Paul Pearce, Green Infrastructure Programme Manager - Landscape City:

"Working with the Hedgerow Heroes project has been a golden opportunity for us to help improve our hedges in Bath and North East Somerset. We manage approximately 25,000 m² of hedges and shrub lines across the district and although we’ve changed our management where we can improve biodiversity, we’ve never had the chance to survey and restore any of our hedgerows; nor provide training for our staff to help them understand the value of these habitats.
Being able to give our staff the chance to learn hedge-laying skills has been incredibly useful. A lot of the grounds maintenance work that our staff do tends to be routine and learning this ancient craft and understanding the benefits of this skilled work is a really enriching experience.
It’s also been great to extend the opportunity to local communities too. Better hedges mean better parks with more biodiversity, and it’s been great to be able to offer a practical learning experience for our hard-working local volunteers."

Sally Pattison, Biodiversity Officer from South Gloucestershire Council:

"Hedgerow Heroes has enabled local volunteers to get involved, and outdoors and active on council sites. It has taught new skills and continued the heritage craft of hedgelaying to carry on into the future safe for another generation. The craft has also been taught and highlighted to council grounds staff.
The tractor drivers who manage the many kilometres of council hedges have been engaged in coming up with a new management protocol. This has been shared widely and has become the council’s policy. With a more wildlife friendly management system many of the hedgerows will be better for biodiversity as well as carbon capture. Reinforcing the outcomes of good management hopefully has instilled better understanding and pride for the tractor drivers and their colleagues."