It’s hard to believe that native hedging varieties such as Hawthorn and Blackthorn can be home to as much as 350 species of wildlife.

In the countryside hedges act as a network of wildlife corridors joining together wooded areas and ponds and are a valuable food source for a host of insects, birds and small mammals. All hedges have at least some wildlife value, many non-native hedging varieties provide cover for birds and insects. The fruits of garden hedges such as Laurel and Yew are popular with birds, many hedges will have flowers making them popular with bees and other pollinating insects.

The most ‘wildlife friendly’ hedges are those with the widest possible mix of native hedging shrubs, Ideally the hedge should be quite wide and the vegetation at the hedge base should be left ‘rough’ to widen the corridor. This corridor is used by wildlife to get from one destination to another safely and protected. The fruits and flowers on the hedging are then the perfect food sources for the small animals.

Two of the most common native hedging species are Quickthorn (Hawthorn) and Blackthorn, these are the ‘glue’ that knits country hedgerows together making them stockproof, collectively these two shrubs support more than 350 species. A typical native hedge would comprise 70% of these two species, as many nature birds have specific food plants, the remaining 30% should include as many different native hedging species as possible for maximum wild life appeal.