Farming
Hedgerows provide shelter for stock and crops and offer a natural barrier to ensure farm animals are kept secure without the need for wire fences. Hedgerows also reduce wind speed, which prevents damage to crops and soil erosion..
Hedgerows are especially useful for the management of game birds, providing corridors for pheasants to disperse around farms.
Hedgerows offer protection against predatory insects as they offer barriers to windborne pests. They also provide shelter for many insects that pollinate crops, particularly bumblebees, which need hedgerows for survival.
Environment
Air pollution capture
Hedgerows are often the barrier between roadways or buildings which produce numerous pollutants that would, if left unchecked, reduce the air quality throughout local areas. The use of hedgerows acts as a natural barrier and mitigates the levels of pollution in the air, protecting specific areas like farmland and more widely across community areas.
Flood Mitigation
The presence of hedgerows can significantly reduce peak water flows for several reasons which include rain interception, increased water storage capacity of soils under hedgerow cover, increased water infiltration potential, and decreased soil density due to root growth.
You may like to see what they say at the Eden Rivers Trust: Eden Rivers Trust – Life on the (h)edge
Noise reduction
Hedgerows have the potential to heavily reduce noise pollution as a natural, living barrier. With traffic noise, machinery, learning and leisure facilities being part of everyday life, noise levels can become dangerously high if left uninterrupted. Hedgerows can mitigate the noise that travels from source and offers a further pollution deterrent.
Whilst there are a number of tangible benefits to hedgerows they also improve the natural landscape and can support the reduction of stress. Offering environmental benefits includes our perception of our land, our countryside and the enjoyment of our landscape. Hedgerows are an integral part of our heritage and our environment and they continue to offer multiple benefits which are often overlooked.
Wildlife
Though it is hard to be completely accurate it is believed that Hedges could support up to 80% of our woodland birds, 50% of our mammals and 30% of our butterflies. The ditches and banks often found with hedgerows also provide habitat for newts, frogs and toads, as well as reptiles.
Hedgerows are a hive of activity that offer shelter and nesting sites for a multitude of birds, insects and animals. From pheasants using the base of hedgerows for a safe nesting site to hedgehogs using them as safe corridors of travel, the importance of hedgerows cannot be understated.
A source of food for hundreds of creatures, protection against weather and predators, a safe home or a safe way to travel, hedgerows often act as the lifeblood of our local environment. Without hedgerows many of the creatures that support the growth of our flowers and crops would not survive. The landscape of farming and our countryside would be very different from what we see today should hedgerows not be present, they are essential to our wildlife and to the life-cycle of our environment.
Landcape character (privacy, security, heritage)
Hedgerows have long since been part of UK heritage. From acting as field boundaries, showing how land used to be apportioned to identifying tracks, footpaths and access points, hedgerows provide character across our landscape that has been enjoyed for generations.
Offering both privacy and security, hedgerows offer more than just pleasant viewing and are often used as a natural barrier. Used to identify ownership or to determine access allowances, hedgerows pre-date fences as a security measure by many years.
Hedgerows are fundamental to the beauty of our UK countryside and through our history have played an important role in the development of security and privacy. Moreover, hedgerows are part of our rich historical tapestry and are a much needed feature for our environmental future.
