20 and 21-04-2021 - Hedgerowing in Tolworth part 1

 

The TCV team getting ready to lay hedges at Tolworth Court

Another catch up for our events back in April.

We had the team from The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) attend our site in a delayed event to start laying our hedgerow.

The hedgerow is a young one planted on the site in 2012, and now, 9 years later (biodiversity takes time to develop) this still young shrub line was ready for laying into a bound hedge. 

Laying a hedge traditionally is undertaken to ensure that planting doesn't become gappy enough to allow livestock through, as hedges are one way to create a barrier to a land holding or feild. 

But laying a hedge has a lot of benefits outside of livestock control, as its helps create a bushier dense shrub barrier which is useful cover for small field and hedgerow animals including hedgehogs. They provide good nesting sites for bird species and natural linear features in the environment which can be used by specie such as bats to navigate and feed over. they also support lots of different invertebrate species. 

Often due to the combination of hedge habitat with other varied habitats which they bound, the habitats combined, provide lots of different niches, that can lead to species richness on a site. 

Slow worms under cover by scrub and grassland habitats

We manage our hedgerows to maximise the provision of nectar and berries for a variety of species and its lovely to see what we spot on site during checks.  

Peacock butterfly drinking nectar at Tolworth

Due to the changing government restrictions pushing the event into the bird nesting season, I checked location along the hedge line a few times prior to the event and also on the morning of the event.

Early starts on site to make sure bird behaviour (which is hard to spot) can be monitored

We were able to avoid areas where there were suspect bird activity and over two days the team were able to do a lovely section of hedge laying.

First section of the hedgerow done!

In the long term, we're aiming to create a double row of hedging with tussocky grassland between them, 

We've been able to secure time to get back in October to do more hedge-laying at Tolworth over three days. So if you want to volunteer and learn how to lay a hedge, this is your perfect opportunity. Sign up to our biodiversity newsletter or the KU Biodiversity Eventbrite page and follow us, so that you'll be the first to hear when  this event goes live. 

Til the next catch up blog. 

Sivi