Hedge corridors

Devon has around 53,000 kms of hedge corridors. They’re wildlife-rich veins criss-crossing the county. 

Over 2,070 species have been found in a single Devon hedge in one year.  

We need to be proud of ‘scruffy’ hedges – nature isn’t neat! 

What we need to do and where
A grey track runs down the centre of the photo with grey-brown shoulder height hedge either side and windblown trees dotted along the hedge. In the foreground is a grassy hill with blue skies.

Welcombe typical hedge, Rob Wolton

A dense row of large beech trees stands on the right of the frame, interconnected at the base by a steep-sided, mossy bank. The vivid green foliage of the beech trees blocks all views of the sky. The path below is covered with dead, brown leaves and is bordered on the left by moss rocks.

Mature beech hedge, Rob Wolton

Many, various-sized thin grey rocks are piled in rows with the thin-edge facing outward, along a steep bank. Many of the rocks are covered with lichen and plants are beginning to grow through the gaps in between the rocks vertical surface as well as on the top of the bank.

Morte Point stone-faced hedge, Rob Wolton

Snapshot for hedge corridors

What wildlife-rich looks like: 

A continuous network of thick, bushy hedges of various heights. Most are on banks that in some areas are stone-faced. A wide range of woody native shrubs which include hawthorn, blackthorn and hazel but that vary with soils and climate. Large mature trees (standards) are common. Hedge bases and margins are flower rich or have tussocky grasses. They’re especially beautiful in the spring with primroses, violets, orchids, red campion, greater stitchwort and bluebells. Shrubs, trees, banks and margins provide shelter, nesting habitat and food (berries and flowers) and are full of birds and buzzing insects.  

Devon Special Species include:   

Mammals: Hazel dormouse, hedgehog, harvest mouse, greater and lesser horseshoe bat, grey-long eared bat, barbastelle bat, Bechstein’s bat 

Birds: Farmland birds (including cirl bunting, linnet, yellow hammer, house sparrow)  

Moths and butterflies: Brown hairstreak butterfly

Plants: Bastard balm, Devon whitebeam 

See the Devon Species of Conservation Concern spreadsheet for all species. 

UK significance:

UK priority habitat: Yes, if 80% or more of shrubs are native species.

Statutory irreplaceable habitat: Hedgerows may contain ancient or veteran trees, which are statutory irreplaceable habitats. 

Wider benefits: Carbon storage, shelter for livestock and crops, wood fuel, water quality, reduced flood risk, food.

1. About

Devon has an amazing 53,000 kms of hedges, a greater length than any other county in the UK. Devon’s hedges, often found on banks, are a defining feature of our landscapes, occurring everywhere other than the upland moorlands of Dartmoor and Exmoor. They create an intricate network of habitat and connectivity across Devon and so are of outstanding importance for wildlife.  

Most of Devon’s hedges have ancient origins. Some even date from the Bronze Age when farmers first started dividing land by creating banks using stones cleared from fields and soils from ditches. It’s thought that three quarters of Devon’s hedges are of medieval origin or older. The six main hedge types in Devon tell the story of Devon’s farming history, geology, climate and soils.  

Hedges are of huge value. They divide land to mark ownership and control livestock. They provide shelter for crops and shelter and shade for livestock. They provide wood fuel and food (for us and wildlife). They prevent soil loss, buffer watercourses from pollution and area for area are more effective at capturing and storing carbon as woodlands. 

Their wildlife value results from the mosaic of habitats found within the hedgerow corridor – scrub, trees, earth bank, stone facing, grassy and flower-rich margins. These habitats provide shelter, nesting sites, pollen and nectar. They support a huge range of species that use different habitats at different times of year. For example, bumblebees need flowering shrubs and trees in the spring, flowering margins in the summer and tussocky grasses and banks for breeding nests and hibernating. For more information see Devon’s hedgerow corridors and wildlife below. 

Some hedges, which were planted and managed for agricultural purposes, are now found in urban areas. They still have wildlife value and are often important features in urban green spaces. However, new hedges in our towns and villages are often made up of ornamental species such as leylandii, lonicera, privet and laurel. While these hedges can have wildlife value (providing shelter, bird nesting sites and some food) they aren’t defined as UK priority habitats. 

As hedges are man-made they all need management to prevent shrubs growing into lines of trees and banks from eroding away. See actions in What we need to do and where below.  

For more information on Devon’s hedges please follow the link to the Devon Hedge Group website in Find out more below.   

Devon’s hedge corridors and wildlife

The combination of all the structural parts of a hedge corridor are important for wildlife.  

Woody shrubs: Provide shelter, nesting sites and food. Birds such as dunnocks, blackbirds and robins will nest in hedges in rural and urban areas. Linnets, whitethroats and yellowhammers nest in hedges in rural areas and prefer short dense hedges. Other species such as bullfinches prefer to nest in tall hedges (over 4m) and so it’s important to have hedges of different heights across our landscapes. Hazel dormice also build their summer nests in shrubs in Devon hedges.   

The species of shrubs are important. For example, the caterpillars of brown hairstreak butterflies, small eggar moths and lappet moths all feed on blackthorn. The caterpillars of white-letter hairstreak butterflies feed on elm and the caterpillars of green hairstreak butterflies feed on gorse. 

Orientation is also important. Many invertebrates such as the brown hairstreak butterfly prefer warm south-facing shrubs and so favour hedges that are aligned east to west. 

Note: It was once thought that the number of woody species in a 30m stretch of hedge related to its age (Hooper’s rule). However, it’s now thought that this was too simplistic and that the number of species relates to factors such as soils, climate and the personal choice of whoever plants the hedge. 

Hedge banks: Provide habitat for flowering plants which in turn provide pollen and nectar for insects. Banks faced with earth or turf provide nesting habitat for insects such as bees. Stone-faced banks can support rich moss, fern and lichen communities as provide shelter for insects and safe nesting places for birds such as wheatear and meadow pipit. 

Large mature trees: Isolated hedgerow trees are known as standards and have the space to develop large canopies. They provide nesting sites, food, shelter and singing posts. Standards often develop into veteran or ancient trees with holes, crevices and deadwood that are full of wildlife. For more information on the wildlife value of these trees see Other relevant actions below.  

Vegetated margins: Hedgerow margins with herbaceous (non-woody) flowers and tussocky grasses are an important part of the hedgerow mosaic. They provide nectar and pollen for insects and nesting sites for birds and small mammals. Harvest mice build nests in mature tussocky grasses in margins and some birds such as chiffchaff and wren nest in dense brambles and vegetation in the margins.  

Devon’s six hedge types

A summary of Devon’s six hedge types is given below. For more information see the Devon Hedge Group website.   

Clayland hedges with willow: These hedges are found on the wet, acid clay soils of the north Devon Culm. They’re generally species rich with blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel and holly. Willow is common, reflecting the wet soils. Oak and ash are the main standard trees. They’re normally found on turf-faced banks and support hazel dormice, brown hairstreak butterflies (which need blackthorn) and willow tits.   

Windswept hedges with gorse: South-westerly winds create hostile conditions on Devon’s exposed south and north coasts and high ground on Dartmoor. Hardy species such as gorse, hawthorn and blackthorn are common, growing on banks which can be faced with stone. Typical trees include beech, oak and sycamore, which can be bent by the wind to form distinctive landscape features. Some banks have just a scattering of gorse or heather on top. These hedges grow in clean air and are rich in lichen. They support green hairstreak butterflies, whose caterpillars feed on gorse, and they provide important shelter and food for birds.   

Stone-faced hedges: These hedges are characteristic of Dartmoor, south-west Devon, the north Devon coast and part of the South Hams. The type of stone used varies with geology, with slate in north Devon, granite on Dartmoor, shale in the South Hams and schists around Prawle (see Geology). The hedges may or may not include shrubs and trees. Stone-faced hedges are some of Devon’s most ancient hedges and some on Dartmoor (known as reaves) are around 3,500 years old. The stones can support rich moss, fern and lichen communities and provide safe nesting places for birds such as wheatear and meadow pipit. Building and repairing these stone-faced hedges is a highly skilled job. 

Hedges on limestone and chalk: These hedges are found on the chalk of east Devon and the limestone of south Devon, especially around Torbay. They support the normal woody species such as hawthorn and blackthorn as well as lime-loving species rarely found in other areas such as dogwood, spindle and wayfaring tree. The climber old man’s beard can be common.  Notable plants include bastard balm (a Devon Special Species).  

Elm-dominated hedges: Hedges dominated by scrubby elms are a distinctive feature of the sandstone soils of the Exe valley and the adjacent areas of mid and east Devon. These hedges were generally planted between the 15th and 18th centuries when farms were amalgamated and straight boundaries created.  Mature elms died during the Dutch elm epidemic that began in the 1960s. These trees continue to send up suckers but they rarely mature and lines of dead and dying young elms are a common sight. These hedges usually have turf-faced banks. Caterpillars of the white-letter hairstreak butterfly feed on elm leaves.   

Beech hedges:  Most beech hedges were planted by landed estates in the 18th and 19th centuries to mark the boundaries of newly enclosed fields (new takes), often from moorland and heathland. They are characteristic of the edges of  Exmoor and Dartmoor uplands, of the Blackdown Hills and the north Devon Culm, but are also found in east and south Devon. Beech hedges on the western edge of Exmoor and the Blackdown Hills have been allowed to grow into mature trees. They can be valued local landmarks such as the lines of beech trees on the top of Peak Hill on the edge of Sidmouth.   

Beech casts heavy shade which reduces plant diversity. However, mature beech trees in hedges provide habitat for invertebrates, lichens, mosses and ferns. Beech seeds (known as mast) provides food for birds and small mammals in the autumn. 

Health check

To be added before final publication of the LNRS to ensure that the most up to date information is used from NE and DBRC.   

Length and distribution 
There are around 53,000km of hedges in Devon. They’re distributed fairly evenly across the county, other than on high moorland.    
 
Although Devon’s hedge network remains large and connected, around a third of the county’s hedges are relict hedges due to lack of management or were removed in the second half of the 20th century using Government grants in the drive to create larger fields for food production (possibly 20,000 kms).   
 
Designations 
Despite their international importance, no hedges or hedge networks have any statutory or non-statutory designation.  However, in 1997 the Hedgerows Regulations were introduced to protect ‘important’ hedges from removal, and most rural Devon hedges meet the criteria to be ‘important’. Permission is needed from the local authority before these hedges can be removed. The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 make it illegal to cut most rural hedges during the bird breeding season and give protection to hedge margins within 2m of the centreline of the hedge.
  
Condition 
Between 2007 and 2009 the structural condition of hedges in ten parishes in Devon was assessed by Devon FWAG (Hodgson 2010). Only 38% of the 1,308 hedges sampled were found to be in favourable structural condition. The main issues were that hedges were too low, too thin, gappy, smothered in nettles or goosegrass, or had developed into line-of-tree hedges. 44% of hedges were trimmed and dense, 31% untrimmed, 14% tall and leggy and 2% had been recently laid or coppiced. 
 
In 2020, Natural England defined Favourable Conservation Status for hedges as when:  
– they occur at an average density of 10km per km2 (Devon = 6-8 km per km2) 
– they have one hedgerow tree per 40m on average (Devon: this is currently met) 
– 95% are in good structural and functional condition (Devon: 38%, see above) 
– all UK priority species are assessed as Least Concern (Devon: no, see Devon Special Species) 
 
In 2018, between 17.8% and 23.5% of the hedges in Natural Character Areas in Devon were managed under Environmental Stewardship or Countryside Stewardship agreements, except on Exmoor where the figure was 35.5% (Lundy has no hedges) (Landscape Change Atlas 2021). 
 
Standard hedgerow trees: No data is available on changes in the numbers in Devon.  Many were lost in the 1960s and 70s due to Dutch elm disease and ash dieback is now causing further losses. Forest Research state that 45% of hedgerow trees should be less than 25cm in diameter at breast height in order to ensure future succession. However, in Devon this size of tree accounts for only about 26% (Hodgson, 2010).  
 

Key pressures and opportunities

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Management of hedge corridors

The main pressure on Devon’s hedges is lack of management, which means too many are becoming line-of-tree hedges. These are less valuable for wildlife than shorter, dense hedges because they provide less shelter and protection, and plants growing in the banks and margins are often shaded out. However, in small proportions they are a useful component of any hedge network, providing additional structural variation. 
 
Other management pressures include: 

– Hard annual trimming by flail cutters resulting in thin, short hedges that produce few flowers and berries and that develop gaps both at the base and along their length. However, note that the pressure is not the flail cutter but how and when it is used. Flail cutters are the most economic and effective way to trim hedges  

– Lack of rejuvenation of shrubs due to laying (steeping) or coppicing leading to gappy, thin hedges. 

– Lack of future standard trees. 

– Lack of bank management. 

– Close cultivation or intense grazing pressure resulting in the loss of flowering plants. 

– Fertiliser application or run-off into hedge bases and margins causing nettles and goosegrass, and probably bracken, ivy and hedge bindweed, to dominate at the cost of a more diverse flowers. The build-up of atmospheric nitrogen is likely to be making this worse. 

– Impacts of pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, vermicides and fungicides, from agriculture and the management of green spaces and gardens. 

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Invasives and disease

The arrival or introduction of new pests, diseases or non-native invasive species remains a high risk. Hedgerow trees are being lost due to ash dieback. Elms don’t reach maturity due to Dutch elm disease. Acute oak decline, if it gains a foothold and spreads in the county, could be catastrophic. 

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Climate change

Climate change is likely to increase the pressure on hedges due to more frequent severe weather conditions, especially summer droughts which can impact on standard trees. 

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Funding and collaboration

Farmers usually receive public support to manage hedges in a wildlife-friendly way through agri-environment schemes, especially Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The schemes provide maintenance and capital payments for activities such as hedge laying and planting, and to encourage the planting of new standard trees. The current approach is to make these grants more attractive to farmers by paying more, so they offer a genuine economic alternative to intensive farming that’s focused solely on food production. However, they need to be consistent in their availability for farmers to have confidence in them.

Grants are also available for hedge planting and for new hedgerow trees. Sources include Defra capital grant schemes, the Woodland Trust and the Tree Council, as well as through National Lottery projects such as DWT’s Saving Devon’s Treescapes project. The Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) grant scheme also supports hedge planting and hedge laying. 

A major gap is funding for holistic hedgerow corridor management, which considers not just the woody element but other structural habitats such as banks, margins and ditches. However, the current focus is on woody shrubs.   

Likewise, the majority of funding focuses on individual hedges rather than on networks. A network focus would increase connectivity and structural (preferably dynamic) variation across farms and wider landscapes. 

Farmers’ groups, supported by Defra through the Facilitation Fund, are an important way to achieve real change at a landscape level, as are the Landscape Recovery Areas. 

In 2023, the government set an ambitious target to plant or restore 30,000 miles of hedge in England by 2037, rising to 45,000 by 2050 (Defra 2023). This should provide more opportunities to secure funding to manage hedges. 

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Devon Hedge Group

Since it was formed in 1994, the Devon Hedge Group has sought to increase appreciation and understanding of the importance of the county’s hedges and provide guidance on their specific management needs. The group, a partnership of many organisations and individuals, has had considerable success. Hedges have a higher profile now than for over a century, and the amount of public money being spent on looking after them and expanding their reach is at an all-time high.  

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Re-integrated hedges into farm businesses

One particular challenge is to re-integrate hedges into farm businesses, so they’re seen as an asset rather than just an overhead. To help do this, the Devon Hedge Group recommends managing and cropping hedges for wood fuel as a source of renewable energy (Wolton 2014). Interest in this has been steadily growing, although its full potential is far from realised. Hedge brash and woodchip can also be sold or used on farm for other purposes, such as mire restoration, reducing river erosion, bedding, compost or biochar. 

Aligned to this, the growing interest in agroforestry is promising, breaking down the artificial divide between agriculture and forestry. Hedges have much to offer farm businesses. They can increase crop and livestock yields by providing shade and shelter. They can provide supplementary feed, including and in particular scarce nutrients, either as browse or as tree hay (Whistance 2018). They provide pollination and pest control services and useful products, all in a way that’s sustainable. Hedges also help to keep adjacent grass green during periods of drought. 

The increasing popularity of regenerative farming should also help to improve the condition of hedges as they help to conserve soil and act as a reservoir for invertebrates such as worms, exporting them into fields. 

The rise in popularity of mob grazing (a form of rotational grazing that can increase the productivity, biodiversity and soil carbon of farmland) is another good reason to plant new hedges rather than erect fences as hedges provide, for example, shade and shelter.

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Natural Flood Management and improved water quality

The increasing focus on nature-based solutions will help to conserve and recover hedges as they help to keep pollutants out of watercourses and reduce the risk of flooding 

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Urban impacts

In towns and villages some of the pressures on hedgerow wildlife include lack of management (see above), lighting, cats, litter and the use of herbicides.   

2. What we need to do and where

Priority

Better (healthy and wildlife-rich) hedge corridors that are connected to a network of habitats across the county, benefiting Devon Special Species and achieving wider benefits such as carbon capture, water resilience and health and wellbeing. 

See Find out more below for detailed guidance and sources of funding and advice.

Actions for hedge corridors

Manage Devon’s hedge corridors to improve their structural condition for wildlife

Hedge shrubs: 

  • Maintain thick, bushy hedges through cyclical trimming by tractor-mounted flails outside the bird nesting season. Ideally cut during January or February and on a 3-5 year rotation to provide flowers and berries, and ensure new growth remains over the winter for species such as brown hairstreak butterflies. Also cut hedges incrementally, leaving a few inches of new growth each time, especially important if hedges are cut annually.
  • Rejuvenate hedges that have become gappy, or too high to be easily trimmed, through hedge laying (known as steeping in Devon) or coppicing and extracting firewood in the process. 
  • Adopt conservation hedge laying styles in additional to competition-standard traditional ones. These are often better for wildlife, result in regrowth that is just as good, and are much faster and more economic to use. Where appropriate, and done carefully, lay or coppice hedges mechanically. 
  • Where possible, restore hedges that have developed into lines of trees.  
  • Plant up gaps as needed.
  • Ensure structural variation in hedges at the farm or estate level, in particular in height and stages in the management cycle, managing hedges on rotation.  Decisions about how individual hedges should be managed should not be taken without reference to the state of others nearby. 
  • Be proud of ‘scruffy’ and unruly hedges – nature isn’t neat! 

Banks 

  • Maintain hedge banks by carefully casting up slumped and eroded soil back onto the bank, taking care not to bury cut stools.  

Hedge bases and margins 

  • Manage and where needed restore flower-rich and tussocky grass margins and hedge bases where these are lacking or suffering from raised nutrient levels (evidenced by excessive goosegrass, nettles and bracken, and perhaps ivy and hedge bindweed). This will be of particular benefit to wildlife during the winter and to pollinators. 

Standard trees 

  • Encourage the growth of new standard hedgerow trees and allow young standard trees to reach maturity. Choosing existing saplings, stems and shoots to grow on is usually more effective and practical than new planting. 

Lighting and litter 

  • Protect hedges from light pollution and reduce litter. 

Plant new hedges 

  • The priority in Devon is to improve the condition of existing hedges. However, new native hedges should be planted where hedgerows are lost (for example, due to development) to restore broken networks or to create green lanes, especially in areas where density is lower than expected. New hedges should include banks and native species as appropriate to the landscape and be looked after in the early years to ensure they establish successfully.

Natural flood management

Relocate gateways to avoid them acting as pathways for water run-off and consider reinstatement of lost hedges and cross slope hedges to slow flows.

Survey, research, training and awareness 

Regularly monitor hedge quantity and quality across the county to detect changes. This is likely to need a well-resourced sample-based survey that involves ground truthing (direct observation) as well as remote imaging. 

Increase awareness among farmers, land managers and contractors of: 

  • The benefits of managing all hedge structural components, including shrubs, banks, marginal and basal flora and ditches. Promote good practice at farm and machinery demonstrations, and at hedge laying competitions. 
  • The benefits of ‘scruffy’ hedges, with the aim to reach a tipping point where this attitude becomes the norm.   
  • Recognising that hedges need to be taken through a cycle of management to stay healthy.  
  • The need for management decisions to take account of the condition of hedges across the farm and local landscape. 
  • The benefits of hedges to farm businesses, for example carbon capture and storage, wood fuel, flood management and agroforestry, so they’re seen as an asset not a cost. 
  • The biodiversity and economic benefits of conservation hedge laying and coppicing, including where appropriate by mechanised means, practiced by skilled and environmentally-aware operators.

Other relevant actions

More detailed actions for Devon Special Species and Wider themes are set out on other LNRS pages. Follow the links below:

Where to focus action

All Devon hedge corridors.   

No High Opportunity Areas have currently been mapped. However, we’re working with the University of Exeter and Devon Hedge Group to assess the extent and condition of hedges in Devon. Our aim is to identify areas that fall short of the target of 10km / km2 and areas where there is a high proportion of over-managed and/or under-managed hedgerows. The recommendation will then be to focus attention on these areas to create more hedges and/or improve their management. We hope to add this mapping prior to finalising the LNRS. 

The University of Exeter’s map of Devon’s hedges is shown on the LNRS Viewer under Other Useful Layers> Woody Habitats> Hedge Corridors. This layer can take a long time to load. See Mapping for the LNRS Viewer and information on how areas have been mapped. 

3. Inspiration

This section will be finalised following public consultation. Please share any case studies and places to visit as well as high quality photos. A few ideas are given below.

Case studies

There’s lots of great work going on across Devon for hedges. For example:

The Devon Hedge Group

The Devon Hedge Group champions the protection, management and expansion of hedges across Devon.  They welcome new members and supporters. 

The Devon Rural Skills Trust

The Devon Rural Skills Trust and Blackdown Hills Hedge Association champions hedge management and hedge steeping in Devon through training and competition.

Where to visit

Always follow the Countryside Code and keep to footpaths and sites that are managed for public access. 

Good places to see hedge corridors are:

All across Devon, apart from on the high moors! Three hedge trails have been identified by the Devon Hedge Group.

Look out for different type of hedge management including hedge laying (steeping), hedge planting and hedgerow trees.

Hedge at Moretonhampstead, with a tree growing through the cobbled wall

For information on visiting these and other sites that are open to the public please see the Explore Devon website.

4. Find out more

 This section will be tidied up and finalised following public consultation. Please share any links.

Devon Hedge Group. Management Advice and Resources 

The Devon Hedge Group has produced a summary of the six types of Devon’s distinctive hedges 

Management of hedges to support bats Hedge management for Greater Horseshoe Bats   

Devon County Council provide information at Hedgerow information 

Hedgerow Regulations xxxxx 

In 2020 Natural England published a Definition of Favourable Conservation Status for Hedgerows 

Agri-environment schemes Funding for farmers, growers and land managers – GOV.UK

Management

Devon Hedges. 2014. Devon Hedge Group and Devon County Council.  

Forest Research 2009. Trends, long term survival and ecological values of hedgerow trees: development of populations models to inform strategy. Defra Research Report BD2111.  

Hodgson, C. 2010. Devon Hedgerow Survey 2007-2009. Devon Farming AND Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG). 

Landscape Change Atlas 2021. Land Use Consultants, Natural England.

Staley, J.T., Wolton, R. and Norton, L. 2020. Definition of Favourable Conservation Status of Hedgerows. Natural England Report number RP2943.  

UKCEH 2024.  High-tech aerial mapping reveals England’s hedgerow landscape. Press release 30 January 2024. UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Wolton, R. J. 2014. Wood fuel from hedges: How to manage and crop hedges in south-west England for fuel. Devon County Council, Tamar Valley AONB and The Devon Hedge Group.  

Wolton, Robert, 2024. Hedges. The British Wildlife Collection 13, Bloomsbury.

Targets

National Targets
Government has set a target, in the 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan, to create or restore 30,000 miles of hedgerows by 2037, and 45,000 miles of hedgerows by 2050.

In 2019, the Climate Change Committee recommended that the extent of hedges should be increased by 40% by 2050, while in 2024 Natural England suggested that the length of hedges needed to be increased by 61% to reach Favourable Condition Status, alongside a 14 fold increase in the number of standard hedgerow trees and that 95% of hedgerows should be in good structural and functional condition .
 
Devon Hedge Group suggested Devon targets:   
50% of hedges to be in structurally good condition by 2030.  
80% of hedges should have banks in good structural condition by 2030, and no more than 10% of hedges should be in the form of line-of-tree hedges (beyond the stage where they can readily be coppiced). 
5% of hedges laid or steeped each year. 
50% of hedges to have flower-rich and/or tussocky grass margins on at least one side by 2030.  
45% of trees to be less than 20cm in diameter (Forest Research 2009). 
An average of 10km of hedge per km2 (as per NE favourable conservation status criteria) 

Potential delivery partners

Devon landowners and managers. 

Defra – development and delivery of agri-environment schemes. 

Devon Hedge Group – overview of progress and priorities, production of guidance, and championing innovation. 

Natural England – as above, and monitoring uptake and impact. 

All organisations working with farmers and offering them advice and guidance (including FWAG SW, National Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust, DCC, Protected Landscapes, North Devon Biosphere, People’s Trust for Endangered Species) – encouraging and  helping them to enter into agri-environment schemes, lobbying Defra and Natural England for improvements to these schemes, and raising awareness of the desirability of a holistic, multi-component approach, of a network approach, and of the benefits of new approaches to hedge management such as conservation laying and coppicing with tree shears. 

Devon Rural Skills Trust and Blackdown Hills Hedge Association – provision of training in hedge management.

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