Plenty of people enjoy a walk in the great outdoors and nothing beats a blast of fresh air, the sound of birdsong and a walk in the countryside. For many of us, a walk includes getting close to nature and an opportunity to take a break from the pace of everyday life and hedgerows are an integral part of the experience, coming to life in the spring and a have for all manner of creatures too.

Often describes as the living threads of the British countryside, hedgerows quite literally weave through the fields, villages, and motorways, shaping the landscape and providing sanctuary for countless species.

Many hedgerows have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and they have helped to define the landscape, especially in rural areas but today, these green corridors are under threat. The steady decline of hedgerows in the UK is not just a loss of scenery but also giving rise to a profound environmental crisis, with far-reaching consequences for biodiversity, farming, and even our efforts to combat climate change.

In the past hedgerows were planted for numerous reasons including defining boundaries for towns and villages as well as to outline ownership of agricultural land. Despite being introduced for practical reasons there were plenty of benefits, not least providing shelter for animals from the weather, protecting the land from soil erosion and providing a natural habitat supporting a diverse array of wildlife too.

Research has shown that across the UK over 2,000 species are known to depend on hedgerows for food, shelter and for breeding purposes including mice, hedgehogs, beetles and bats. Today, we are at an environmental crossroads as many hedgerows are disappearing due to modern day farming methods, urban development, neglect and removal for other purposes such as commercial activities associated with wind and solar farms.

It has been estimated that the UK has lost an estimated 50% of its hedgerows since the Second World War. The consequences are significant as their loss results in the species that depend on them struggling for survival. Birds such as the yellowhammer and linnet, once common sights in rural Britain, have become increasingly scarce. The absence of hedgerows also reduces biodiversity at a fundamental level, creating fewer opportunities for pollination, pest control, and nutrient cycling—services vital to the health of farmland and ecosystems.

Hedgerows are also important when int comes to the environment as they play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by capturing and storing carbon. Research has shown that well-managed hedgerows can sequester as much carbon per hectare as woodland, making them an essential tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They also act as natural barriers against flooding, slowing water flow and helping to prevent soil erosion.

Without hedgerows, the countryside becomes more vulnerable to extreme weather events—a concern that grows more urgent in light of the UK’s increasingly unpredictable climate.

Efforts to address the decline of hedgerows are gaining momentum, but they face significant challenges. There are regulations in place that seek to protect existing hedgerows, requiring permission for their removal, yet enforcement can be patchy. Conservation groups like the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and The Wildlife Trusts have long campaigned for better management and restoration, but their work requires sustained funding and public support.

Public awareness also plays a crucial role. Hedgerows are part of the everyday scenery for many of us as we enjoy a walk outside but their loss can go unnoticed amid broader environmental concerns. However, campaigns that engage communities in hedgerow conservation—through initiatives like planting projects, science surveys, and school education programmes—could foster a sense of connection to these vital green corridors, and a greater awareness and understanding of the risks associated with their removal and loss from the landscape.

James Booty Bsc (Hons) PhD MCIEEM, Senior Ecological Consultant and Team Lead at Thomson Environmental Consultants adds: "In 2023 the latest State of Nature report found that only 14% of important habitats for wildlife were in a good ecological state. Intensive land use for farming was identified as a main driver, which has a direct and clear effect on perhaps our most unassuming of these habitats: the hedgerow."

"The UKs hedgerows have faced historic large scale removal, and continue to face this and other pressures. Neglect results in hedgerows becoming tree lines, which changes the way they function in the landscape and the species they support. Mis-management can prevent hedgerows functioning to their full potential by over-cutting or cutting at inappropriate times of year both for hedgerows and other species relying on them. Squeezing hedgerows, by not allowing sufficient space either side for field layers to develop reduces the effectiveness of hedgerows as wildlife habitats and corridors. Activities close to them can harm the hedgerow root system. The majority of our hedgerows are situated within farmed landscapes, where practices such as spraying can reduce the variety of plant species within hedgerows, or over fertilising can cause more common plants, well adapted to higher nutrient levels, to become dominant and outcompete rarer species."

"Due in part to shifting baseline syndrome the health, structure, complexity and functionality of our hedgerows is being eroded at an alarming rate."

"We know from the ecosystem services approach that this is resulting in lost natural processes which may cost the economy vast sums each year in provisioning, regulating and supporting services such as pollination, erosion protection, nutrient control, flood prevention and pest control."

"A healthy hedgerow can support a large variety of native wildlife, including some of our rarest and most highly protected. This extends from the plants which comprise a hedgerow, to invertebrates which feed directly on them and shelter within them. Birds, many of which are adapted to arable landscapes, nest and feed within hedgerows and their surrounding low-level vegetation, making hedgerows vital to birds in decline such as yellowhammer and linnet. Hedgerows are a refuge within the landscape for mammals such as brown hares, hedgehogs and badgers which will also feed within them and may take advantage of hedgerow shelter and banks to create setts. With reduced density, structure and field layer in a hedgerow, the reliant plants, invertebrates, birds and mammals cannot be supported in sustainable numbers. "

"Healthy hedgerows at their best form a connected network across our landscape, retaining critical links across even our most barren and degraded areas. These are the arteries and veins across the green desert of the farmed landscape."

"A prime example is our hazel dormouse, an iconic and charismatic woodland, scrub and hedgerow dweller. Dormice live at low density and require woodlands to be well connected by healthy hedgerows for dispersal, genetic resilience and survival. Bats use hedgerows in a similar way to navigate through the landscape using echolocation, while feeding on invertebrates. When hedgerows become gappy, thin and lacking in density and structure, the value of these habitats is dramatically reduced and species reliant upon them are less able to travel safely through the landscape in search of food, shelter or to breed."

"The good news for hedgerows is that we can readily reverse the degradation and loss if we decide it is important enough to us all and to our economy."

"We have the knowledge to reinvigorate existing or replant lost hedgerows giving them the space, management and conditions to thrive. By reconnecting our landscapes we can nature to thrive once more," concludes James.

Ultimately, reversing the decline of hedgerows is about more than saving a specific feature of the countryside; it is about protecting the intricate web of life they support. It is about recognising that the health of our ecosystems, our farms, and even our planet depends on these unassuming yet vital hedges.

As you next walk through a countryside path lined with brambles, berries, and birdsong, consider the quiet importance of the hedgerow beside you. It is a reminder that some of the most vital elements of our environment are also the most fragile.

In a world where environmental crises feel overwhelming, protecting and restoring hedgerows offers a tangible way to make a difference—one hedge at a time.