29th February 2024

150 Metres of Biodiversity with Alford Wildlife Watch

We’re proud of our ambitious programme to extend and care for our network of wildlife-friendly hedgerows. Alford Wildlife Watch contributed 150 metres of hard work to this season’s planting programme. We offer our heartfelt thanks to these enthusiastic volunteers, and we tip our cap to Jay Morris who shared the inspiring words and artwork that follow. Enjoy!

‘Our Alford Wildlife Watch group of children and parents took on the task of planting 150 metres of brand new native British hedgerow at South Ormsby Estate on a chilly Sunday afternoon in February.

‘We met up with expert hedging contractors Andy and Angie, who explained the process to everyone and demonstrated their specially designed, home-forged tool, ‘the bodger’ (or was it ‘the podger’?). A pogo-stick-type design, it pierces the biodegradable weed-supressing membrane at one-foot intervals and is wiggled around to create the planting hole.

‘This implement proved not only effective but extremely popular as it was great fun to jump on! Younger planters had to join forces to combine their weight and strength to pierce the holes. We followed a blue guide-rope to keep our hedge-line on track. We then decided on the best method to get the correct spacing of different plant species. We put hawthorn in every hole at the start, then the people in charge of blackthorn, dogwood and dog rose paced out the distance and replaced a hawthorn with one of theirs every one metre, three metres and eight metres respectively.

‘This spacing mix, according to Andy, will give our hedge a good biodiversity of species as it develops. The plants were then heeled in with a stake for support and a biodegradable tree guard, so there were plenty of jobs for the entire team. There was no need to water anything as the soil was very soggy which will help the hedge to get growing quickly.

‘This was hungry work and Margot brought out her delicious roasted sweet potatoes with butter, which had been keeping warm with a hot water bottle in the insulated picnic bag: a welcome feast for the workers!

‘As we surveyed our new section of baby hedge with pride, the children climbed up the fence and waded joyfully into the flooded field of shallow muddy pools. It wasn’t long before the water was over the top of some wellies but no matter; a great time was had by all and since this section of new hedge is by the road, we can all enjoy driving past it for years to come and think, “I planted that!”.’

To find out more on the history of hedgerows and why they matter so much, click HERE.

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150 Metres of Biodiversity with Alford Wildlife Watch

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