The project surveyed and helped to conserve and restore hedgerows across the LPS area.

In doing so it has strengthened landscape character and increased resilience against future threats including climate change. It was the practical complement to the desk-based project 3.1 Trees in the Landscape.

Also included within this project was a grant fund for landowners (now closed) to pay for practical work to replace and maintain significant hedgerow and parkland trees, completing the link with the Trees in the Landscape Project.

In Summer 2021 we recruited and trained a team of hedgerow surveyors and began surveying. Since then our volunteers and staff have surveyed over 100 kilometres of hedgerows.

Our surveyors learned how to identify the most common UK hedgerow trees and investigate the factors that make hedgerows beneficial for our native wildlife. Surveying a hedgerow is a unique way of understanding our environment and exploring nature in a different way.

A growing partnership with the Alfoxton Park Trust allowed us to survey some impressive veteran trees at the Alfoxton Estate in Holford. The estate is home to over 20 ancient and veteran trees! You can read more about the veteran trees of Alfoxton and Cothelstone in our blog post here.

In association with the Trees in the Landscape Project we collected records of notable trees and celebrated the great ecosystems these veteran trees can support.