Sustainable Swaledale volunteers have undertaken hedge laying over the past three years following training funded by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) and Tees-Swale: Naturally connected.
The case for managing hedges
Hedgerows require management in order to stop them developing into a line of trees. According to the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), over half the UK’s ‘priority species’ mammals make significant use of hedgerows for food, nesting/roosting and moving through the landscape. One study counted 2070 species in one 85 metre stretch!
As hedgerows grow upwards into a line of trees, the low shrubby cover that’s needed by wildlife for shelter, food and as corridors for travelling along, is gradually lost. A line of trees also develops gaps over time as individual trees are lost. Once a hedgerow has become a line of trees, it’s very difficult to return it to a shrubby hedgerow structure without extensive work, and it will have lost many of its wildlife benefits in the process.
Rejuvenating hedges through laying or coppicing increases stem density by encouraging multiple shoots from each stem, producing a very thick hedge from the base. It resets a hedgerow into a whole new lifecycle and, if done periodically it will hugely lengthen the life of a hedge.
Our hedge laying sites
Swallowholm, Arkengarthdale
At Swallowholm, Arkengarthdale, volunteers have helped a local landowner to rejuvenate an overgrown hawthorn hedge, planted about 20 years ago by the previous owner. Left without any maintenance, it had been allowed to grow upwards into a very tall hedge of standing trees. While the newly laid hedge retains some standard trees to provide roosting sites for birds; it can now predominantly operate as a wildlife corridor alongside some new areas of tree planting.
The Swale Trail, Swaledale
Started in 2023, this is a longer-term project to lay some of the hedge along the Swale Trail from Low Houses eastwards towards Low Whita. The hedge along this popular cycling and walking trail has become very overgrown, with numerous gaps blocked by pallets. Laying sections has helped to both rejuvenate the hedge and to create a stock proof boundary, which in turn offers a richer and more biodiverse environment for wildlife. Larger gaps in the hedge are also being restocked wherever possible, or sections of dead hedging created using the leftover brash generated from the hedge laying—both of these methods help to create a continuous barrier, where laying the existing stems isn’t possible.
Check out our hedge video on Facebook to see the extent of the transformation that has been effected between November 2025 and February 2026.
How can I volunteer for hedge laying?
Hedge laying takes place outside of the bird nesting season, generally between November and February. Please email info@sustainableswaledale.org for more info, or join our Facebook group for seasonal updates.
Check out this poem on what you can learn from hedge laying: Poem: What you might learn when laying a hedge — Foundation for Common Land.
How can I find out more about the importance of managing hedges?
The People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) website has a whole section dedicated to hedgerow management, including lots of downloadable information: Hedgerows – People’s Trust for Endangered Species.
Information on managing hedgerows for wildlife can also be found on the Wildlife Trusts website: How to manage a hedgerow for wildlife | The Wildlife Trusts); and on the Woodland Trust website: Hedgerows – British Habitats – Woodland Trust.
The Tree Council also has lots of information on hedgerows: Hedgerows – The Tree Council