Background
In the late 1990s the
Suffolk Coastal Greenprint Forum began promoting
a voluntary hedgerow survey within the Suffolk Coastal area. This
was in response to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and the Suffolk
Biodiversity Partnership (SBP) assessment for landscape and habitat
priorities.
For many years Government had encouraged farmers to
remove hedgerows in order to make agriculture more efficient
and to increase production. The Forum endorsed the SBP view that
little information existed on how many hedgerows remained, their
structure and what hedgerow species were present.
A small working group of Forum members, chaired by Guy Ackers,
was asked to produce guidance that could be used by any community
or interest group within the Suffolk Coastal area to undertake a
parish-wide hedgerow survey.
The survey soon developed into a county-wide project and
the project now includes officer representatives from each
rural district council. Most have undertaken this role on a purely
voluntary basis and have been active in training volunteers and in
undertaking or assisting with surveys within their area.
The current position
The data collection part of the project ended at the end of
2011, by which time 317 parish surveys had been completed (105 in
Suffolk Coastal), providing data on 38,295 landscape hedgerows.
That data, following an audit by Guy Ackers, is sent to the Suffolk
Biological Records Centre at Ipswich Museum, where it is entered
onto their database and their digital mapping system. This then
enables it to be correlated with their many other data sets,
particularly those relating to wildlife and wildlife habitat.
Guy’s audit also relates the data captured to the landscape
character assessment undertaken by Natural England and Suffolk
County Council and can help demonstrate the value of hedgerows in a
particular area and soil type. The survey has a number of positive
benefits by highlighting the importance of a network of species
rich hedgerows. For example it shows which species are particularly
successful in a given area and therefore an indication of what
could be used for any additional planting; it may also be useful in
informing the planning consent process at parish council and
district level in determining how to arrange development to protect
hedgerows.
Guy has produced a comprehensive report on each completed survey
for the coordinator / parish council relating the data for that
parish to parishes with similar landscape characteristics and to
the county as a whole. He has had a positive feedback from a number
of coordinators and parish councils.
What happens now?
Now that all the results are in, Guy is producing two
reports:
Report 1 - a report to the Suffolk Coastal
Greenprint Forum, which asked Guy to set up the project. This will
show the overall county position, but will concentrate of course on
the Suffolk Coastal area where 105 surveys have been completed.
The project tried hard to achieve 100% coverage in the district,
but there were a few instances where major landowners refused
access, or where volunteers could not be found to undertake the
survey. As a result just 12 parishes have not been surveyed.
Report 2 - a county report showing what
has been surveyed and making comparisons between different parts of
the county with similar landscape characteristics and also showing
any significant variation in hedgerow distribution and species
richness in different types of landscape.
This report will be sent to the Suffolk Biological Records
Centre and a number of organisations with a nature conservation
remit. It will also be made available for every parish that has
participated and a summary version will also be available for all
parishes. Throughout the remainder of Suffolk a further 212
parishes have been surveyed with just 150 where a survey was not
possible.
Why the survey has been undertaken
Species rich hedgerows provide shelter for crops, are a feature in
the landscape and an important wildlife habitat in their own right,
as well as providing invaluable corridors for wildlife between
other habitats such as ponds and copses. It is this connectivity
that surely helps to make Suffolk the Greenest County and enhances
the Living Landscape.
The survey identifies the hardwood species content, age and
structure of hedgerows, and will help to determine where the
priorities lie for protecting, enhancing and improving the hedgerow
network. If hedgerow planting, or replanting takes place in a
parish, the data from the survey will give an immediate indication
of what species are best suited to a particular area.
The Suffolk Biological Records Centre is already relating the
hedgerow data, to data it holds on the incidence of various
wildlife species and habitats, and clear correlations are already
emerging between landscape and species rich hedgerows with the
favourable status of those species and habitats.
Some experiences from the survey
Many communities have completed the survey and have commented on
how enjoyable the whole process has been and how it has brought the
community together. In several cases it has led to other
initiatives within the parish.
On the negative side we also have a few examples of often quite
large communities were unable to find a single volunteer to either
co-ordinate the survey or work as a surveyor. We have also trained
some parish teams of volunteers, but they for various reasons have
been unable to proceed.
Although the project has now ended, if you would like to find
out more about the Suffolk Hedgerow Survey please contact:
If you are from outside the Suffolk Coastal area, the following
contacts should be able to help you:
The Suffolk Hedgerow Survey is supported by Babergh, Forest
Heath, Mid Suffolk, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney district councils
and St Edmundsbury Borough
Council.