Hedgerow Havens

Hedgerow Havens project 

Making space for wildlife 

Hedgerow Havens was a joint project between BBOWT and Buckinghamshire Council to conserve farmland species around Aylesbury. The project ran from April 2018 to September 2021. By working with local landowners and parish councils, the project improved the quality of 'linear' habitats like hedgerows, field margins, ditches, road verges, watercourses, scrapes and ponds on farms and in villages.

Linear habitats like hedgerows, road verges and ditches are home to many species, as well as providing corridors for wildlife to travel along. Hedgerows alone support 21 species listed on the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), a register of threatened species, while road verges in the UK are home to over 720 plant species. By restoring existing linear habitats and creating new ones, this project conserved and protected the wildlife that calls them home.

How the project worked

• We gave practical help and advice to landowners and parish councils

• We gave grants to landowners and parishes who signed up to wildlife-friendly methods of management

• We worked with local people to do practical conservation work

This project has now come to an end. To find out how to help wildlife in your area, go to bbowt.org.uk/team-wilder

How volunteers made the hedgerow havens

Over the three-and-a-half years of the project, volunteers provided the backbone that made it the success it was. The Hedgerow Havens work party caried out tasks varying from hedge laying, tree planting and pond works in winter to grassland management, creating hibernacula nest spaces for reptiles and access management in spring and summer.

Local groups supported by Hedgerow Havens did similar activities, empowering local people to stand up for local nature.

Volunteers led surveys of hedgerow condition and species, and in the final year they joined forces with the Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Environmental Record Centre and Buckinghamshire Amphibian and Reptile Group to form the Bucks Pond Project which surveyed ponds, amphibians and reptiles.

This project has now come to an end, but if you are interested in helping wildlife in your area, go to our volunteering web page:

Find out more

Case studies

Find out more about Hedgerow Havens work in Whitchurch, Weedon and at Rectory Farm.

Habitats

Find out more about the habitats that the Hedgerow Havens project works to conserve.

Species

These habitats are home to lots of different species of plant, bird and mammal, including threatened species. Find out more about the different species that the project aims to conserve and protect.

Farmland birds

Other species

As well as farmland birds, lots of other species use linear habitats to feed and breed. These include rare butterflies like the black hairstreak.

Our project partners

We also worked closely with several parish councils, including: