Our hedgerows support an amazing diversity of plants and animals, providing wildlife with a rich larder throughout the year.

Pollinators buzz around hedgerow flowers in spring, small mammals scurry through their depths in summer and thrushes pluck berries from their branches in autumn and winter.

Hedgerows create vital links across the countryside that help wildlife to move about freely, and they benefit the wider environment too: they prevent soil erosion, capture pollutants such as fertilisers, assist with water regulation and combat climate change by capturing carbon.

As the days get longer and the breeding season gains momentum, our local hedgerows are alive with activity.

Here are a few hedge-loving species that you might spot this spring…

HEDGEHOGS

As their name suggests, hedgehogs are often found near hedgerows.

Hedges are ideal nest sites for them and offer a varied bounty of invertebrates, as well as protection from predators.

Under the cover of thick hedgerows, hedgehogs can travel about undetected.

BATS

Hedges can slow windspeeds in exposed areas, allowing insects to fly in places where they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

This in turn means that there is more prey available for bats on windy nights.

Hedges are especially important for bats with limited echolocation ranges like Pipistrelles, serving as landmarks so they can navigate more easily.

Hedgerow trees also provide valuable roosting sites for bats: some species, like the noctule, will use crevices in the bark to roost and breed.

BIRDS

During the spring and summer our hedgerows really come to life with the busy fluttering and chirping of birds.

Hedgerows are hugely important for them, providing vital food and shelter that can be hard to find in agricultural and urban landscapes.

Yellowhammers and linnets both make their nests in hedgerows, usually near arable fields, and in more built-up areas house sparrows and blackbirds are common hedgerow inhabitants.

If you would like to grow a hedge in place of a fence or a wall to help wildlife where you live, you can find lots of handy hints and tips on our website: hiwwt.org.uk/actions