Target reached!
With additional funding, DWT can carry out more hedge-laying on other sites, includi...
Devon Hedge Fund
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
Aim
Lay more hedges & improve management of hedges for wildlife on farmland in northern Devon & the South Hams and in the Exeter Valley Parks
Devon Hedge Fund
Devon’s hedges are an essential part of the landscape, as characteristic of our county as tors and beaches. Hedges are also vital habitats for wildlife, with more than 2,000 species recorded on one traditional hedge in northern Devon.
And with a remarkable 50,000kms of hedgerow remaining in Devon, these should be a great resource for flowering plants, insects, mammals and birds.
(Photo: hedges near Torrington, Rob Wolton)
But for a hedge to benefit a wide array of wildlife, it must be well-managed. Sadly, when hedges were last surveyed in ten representative parishes across Devon, the shrub and tree layer of around 60% were in an unhealthy state, either cut too severely or long neglected.
That means less than half of Devon’s hedges are currently the wildlife-rich habitats they could be.
The good news: as hedges are a habitat created by people – originally for agriculture – it’s entirely up to people to improve how they are managed. And the even better news: Devon Wildlife Trust has more land advisers helping farmers improve their land for wildlife than any other Wildlife Trust.
So, DWT is in a great position to support farmers and landowners to lay hedges, plant trees to create new hedges and change hedge management practices to benefit wildlife.
This year, we have plans for improving hedges for wildlife in northern Devon, for laying hedges in Exeter’s Valley Parks and for planting trees to create hedges to link up wildlife-rich land in the South Hams.
But we need to raise at least £6,500 from this Devon Hedge Fund crowdfunder to help improve hedges for wildlife. Hedge-themed rewards for pledgers are available too – can you help with a donation or pledge today?
(Photo: Devon hedge, Rob Wolton)
What is a Devon hedge and why is it so special for wildlife?
The traditional Devon hedge features a mix of tree and shrub species planted on top of a grassy (or bare stone) raised bank. Some Devon hedge banks also have a ditch running in parallel.
For centuries, management would have involved cutting the hedge every few years, leaving some mature trees in place, and then where gaps appeared in the hedge, laying the cut stems of some trees and shrubs to renew the hedge. Traditional management would also include ‘casting up’ the hedge bank, a technique where any lost soil is lifted back onto the bank.
A Devon hedge of broadleaf trees and shrubs managed in this way can support more than 2,000 species of plants, animals and fungi. Such hedges provide butterflies, bees – especially those on the wing in spring, like buff-tailed, red-tailed and early bumblebees - and other pollinating insects with nectar. Hedges are used for nesting by birds such as dunnock, bullfinch, willow tit and yellowhammer.
(Photo: yellowhammer, Chris Root)
Dormice and harvest mice find nuts and berries in summer, then in winter the base of a hedge has spaces for small mammals to find shelter (harvest mice) or hibernate (dormice, hedgehogs). Bats use hedges to navigate around the landscape, while the hundreds of species of invertebrates found on and around the hedge provide food for both bats and insectivorous birds.
(Photo: harvest mouse, Amy Lewis)
Hedges play a crucial role in the life cycle of some insects. Brown hairstreak butterflies lay their eggs on blackthorn stems. Unlike most butterfly species, the brown hairstreak doesn’t over-winter as a caterpillar but remains in the egg. When hedges are flailed or cut back severely, many brown hairstreaks are lost before they have even had chance to become larvae.
As well as being nectar sources, hedges are also mating sites for some bumblebees in summer, when the male offspring of worker bees will fly along a hedge scent-marking to attract young queen bumblebees.
So, we need as many of Devon’s thousands of kilometres of hedge to be managed well for wildlife – and we can always plant more trees to create new hedges. Your donation can support DWT to do both!
(Photo: brown hairstreak butterfly, Philip Precey)
Improving hedges in northern Devon
DWT’s Northern Devon Natural Solutions project works with landowners and land managers to find nature-based solutions to environmental problems. Polluted rivers, increased flood risk, degradation of soils and loss of wildlife are the kind of problems DWT is trying to address. And an increase in well-managed hedges could help with all these issues.
The deep roots of a hedge can soak up some of the water from heavy rain – and improve soil structure in the neighbouring field - while the hedge bank can prevent sediment from being washed into watercourses. All the trees, shrubs and flowering plants in the hedge and on the bank are also taking in carbon from the atmosphere.
And of course, the well-managed Devon hedge is a haven for wildlife.
When DWT launched this project in late 2021, working mainly in the Torridge and the Okement river catchments, the ambition was to see 90km of Devon hedge in better management after five years. In fact, by working with many landowners who were keen to improve their land for wildlife and were known to DWT from previous projects, this target was almost met in the first two years alone.
Now working additionally in the Taw and Little Dart catchments, and on the western edge of Exmoor, trying to engage with landowners new to working with DWT, this year we want to see at least another 20km of hedge in better management. This is a minimum target and, based on our previous success rate, we hope to be able to go well above this 20km figure, with your support.
(Photo, DWT volunteer managing hedge)
Through this project, DWT can supply free trees for planting hedges in targeted areas of northern Devon, with up to 600 trees or shrubs available per landholding to plant up to 100 metres of new hedge.
With your support, DWT Land Advisers can spend time getting to the right landholdings and gaining the trust of landowners, then getting trees in the ground for new hedges and changing behaviour to ensure better management of existing hedges.
Northern Devon Natural Solutions is part-funded by the Environment Agency and Devon County Council, but every year we need to raise the remaining funds for DWT’s team of land advisors to fulfil their work for wildlife across the region.
On every northern Devon farm where we can create or improve hedges, we will see results for wildlife, with your support.
(Photo, hedge planting by Northern Devon Natural Solutions project)
Hedges to link woodlands and wildlife-rich grasslands in the South Hams
DWT’s long-running Avon Valley project has demonstrated the benefits to wildlife of building relationships with landowners over time. The most visible result has been the 100-plus acres of wildflower-rich meadows created or restored. But for several years the project also focused on improving woodland and farmland habitats for dormice.
This year we want to use tree-planting for new hedge creation – and provide advice to landowners on letting any existing hedges become more ‘woody’ and wild. This will help link up the wonderful mosaic of woodlands in the Avon Valley with other wildlife-rich habitats currently separated by intensively managed farmland.
How can we do this? By teaming up with Woodland Trust: they can offer trees for planting, while – with funds raised from this crowdfunder - DWT can provide the time to gain support from farmers and landowners for increasing the number of hedges and improving hedge quality. We can also supply staff and volunteer time for help with tree-planting and ongoing tree care.
With your support, DWT can literally “close the gaps”. Your donation will allow us to work in those areas where there are currently no hedges, or where hedges are in poor condition.
Our ambition is to develop and extend the network of well-managed hedges in the Avon Valley, strengthening those vital habitat corridors which allow bats, dormice, birds, butterflies and bumblebees to move from place to place.
(Photo: red-tailed bumblebee, Jon Hawkins)
The core of the Avon Valley is characterised by a rich tapestry of old growth woodlands, many owned by The Woodland Trust. Together with DWT’s nature reserves and the many areas of wildflower meadows now being restored these habitats are at the heart of helping nature recover. Hedges are vital green life-lines, linking the landscape together to increase the abundance and diversity of its wildlife.
More flowering plants and wild creatures can thrive in this beautiful South Devon river valley with your support.
(Photo, hedges linking the landscape, Avon Valley)
Life on the hedge in Exeter
Exeter’s six Valley Parks are the city’s green lungs. Managed by Exeter City Council for decades, Devon Wildlife Trust began looking after them four years ago. The Valley Parks are a mosaic of woodland and open grassland, and under DWT management we have been able to increase areas of wildlife-rich habitat.
This year we have identified where hedge-laying can have a beneficial impact for brown hairstreak butterflies and lots of other wildlife. In one Valley Park, these hedges were planted in the 1990s, in another the ancient hedge runs alongside a Saxon drover’s road, so might well have been planted in the 990s!
(Photo: Barley Valley, Matt Austin)
Ludwell Valley Park is a wonderful wildlife haven to the east of the city centre, featuring woodland, orchards, wildflower-rich grassland and a stream. Hedges both old and new stretch for many kilometres forming old field boundaries. Several hedges will benefit from laying where they are becoming a little ‘gappy' - but with a limit to what staff and volunteers can achieve, support for this crowdfunder will ensure additional help to get more sections of hedge laid.
The ancient hedge running for 400 metres alongside the Saxon road at Barley Valley park, on a ridge overlooking western Exeter, is particularly important for brown hairstreak butterflies. Laying their eggs on the blackthorn stems under the oak canopy, as they have done here every year for centuries, these butterflies will be just one of the species to benefit when DWT lays this hedge for the first time in twenty years, thanks to your support.
(Photo: brown hairstreak butterfly, Philip Precey)
Devon Hedge Fund Rewards
A pair of harvest mice help us say ‘thank you’ for pledges of £5. For slightly higher value pledges you can get directly involved in hedge-laying and tree-growing activity with DWT, and there are opportunities to enjoy a guided walk at DWT’s Woodah Farm site on Dartmoor – not normally accessible to the public – or a wildlife and landscape walk in the beautiful Avon Valley.
(Photo: bullfinch, Sherie New)
A hedge fund for Devon’s wildlife
Giving a pledge or donation to the Devon Hedge Fund is a gift for more than 2,000 species of plants, fungi and animals. This isn’t a hedge fund for city fat cats, it’s the only hedge fund for Devon’s wildlife, landscapes and water courses.
A gift to the Devon Hedge Fund is your chance to directly support a Devon super-habitat that provides nectar for pollinators, nuts and fruit for dormice, nesting sites for birds, hibernating spaces for hedgehogs and food for bats while also improving soil structure, reducing floodwater run-off and capturing carbon.
Please support the Devon Hedge Fund crowdfunder today – thank you!
This project successfully funded on 14th September 2023