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CPRE Hampshire's Hedgerow Heroes

Boyd McCleary

CPRE Hampshire have been involved in planning and undertaking a series of hedgerow initiatives across the county.

We have involved and worked with hedgerow experts, volunteers, local communities, primary and secondary school students, young farmers and rural businesses. Our aim is to help promote and educate on their enormous value to our countryside, to share skills and knowledge and to work to re-instate and replant hedgerows around the county.

This page provides information on our past initiatives, what’s happening currently and what’s planned for the future.

Hedgerow Heroes Initiative 2022/23

Now up and running, plans for the next phase of the Hampshire Hedgerows initiative are well underway. Keeping checking back here for the latest news, updates and our photographic timeline of how things are going.

Jul 2022 – Living on the Hedge – working with Hampshire County Council’s County Farms, the next phase of the initiative will take place at Upper Brownwich Farm in Titchfield.

Oct 2022 – Surveys begin at Upper Brownwich Farm in Titchfield

Oct 2022 – see photographs of the volunteers as they explore the farm and start their surveys

Oct 2022 – see photos of the volunteers as they start the hedgelaying process

Oct 2022 – another session and the hedgelaying progresses

Oct 2022 – update from Hedgerow Heroes Co-ordinater, Ellie Banks, with input from some of our fabulous volunteers

Nov 2022 – hedgelaying training with HCC tenant farmers

Dec 2022 – New research shows farmers value hedges

Feb 2023 – Local sea scouts join in with hedge planting at Upper Brownwich Farm

Hedgerow Restoration Project in South West Hampshire – Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022

CPRE Hampshire are keen to support the restoration of hedgerows and recently led a project in collaboration with the Meyrick Estate. The project took place from Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022. The site is just south of Bransgore, on the Western edge of the New Forest and close to the Burton Common Site of Special Scientific Interest. 1.7km of new hedgerows were planted along historical boundaries and a further 1.3km of existing hedgerow, which has become degraded over the years, has been gapped up. This was the first stage in the restoration of some 50km of hedgerow across the estate.

Working with a number of partners, drawing on local expertise and using it as an opportunity to educate and engage the local community on the enormous value of the humble hedgerow, there were a number of expected benefits to the hedgerow project. .

The project not just enhanced the hedgerows but also supported local jobs and offered great opportunities for the local community to connect, understand and enjoy the landscape around them.

Take a further look at the full list of objectives specifically for the project.

View our photographic timeline to see the site and the work undertaken for yourself.