Hedgerows are an inspiring example of a semi-natural landscape feature where nature has thrived with the help of human intervention.
While we tend to think of the Irish landscape as naturally patchworked with field boundaries, the networks of drystone walls and hedgerows are actually a rather recent addition to the countryside.
Typically planted from the early 1800s as part of the drive to enclose land, hedgerows grew to encapsulate both the misery of subsistence farming and the property-owning rural democracy that Ireland became. Of course, hedgerows had a utilitarian function, too: to secure livestock and provide shelter and timber resources. As the trees and shrubs matured, their diversity and density created some of Ireland’s most important habitats.
Although perhaps at their best in May, when the whitethorn blossoms put on their fabulous displays, hedgerows provide all year-round resources, corridors and refuges for wildlife. But what makes hedgerows really special as habitats is the diversity in planting: the mix of trees, shrubs and ground flora or herb layer all combine to provide a range of ecosystem services and habitats that natural colonisation would not achieve.
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David Hickie, in his seminal book on Irish hedgerows, Networks for Nature, reported that more than 600 of Ireland’s 815 species of flowering plants, 37 species of shrubs and trees and 105 species of wild flora have been recorded in hedgerows. At least half of our countryside birds nest in hedgerows, with surveys showing a strong positive relationship between bird species richness and hedgerow size, particularly area and the number of trees present in the hedgerow. Hedgerows are particularly important for threatened (red-listed) species such as the barn owl, which tracks its prey along the field margins and tree line. Along with pollination and other ecosystem services, hedgerows are vital reservoirs for biodiversity at a time when Irish biodiversity generally is in steep decline.
The 2021 Monaghan county hedgerow survey found that more than 83 per cent of the surveyed hedges were in an unfavourable condition
Various trends have conspired to put additional pressure on hedgerows: cheaper, less labour-intensive methods of stock control, loss of hedgerow management skills like laying and coppicing, agricultural intensification and the advent of the flail (a mechanical cutting device attached to a tractor) have all resulted in a decline in the health of our hedgerows.
Road construction, set-back planning conditions and stud farms have all resulted in losses of wildlife corridors. The 2021 Monaghan county hedgerow survey, for example, found that more than 83 per cent of the surveyed hedges were in an unfavourable condition, with the number of gappy hedges increasing, and an annual rate of removal of about 0.9 per cent.
While a Teagasc survey in 2005 found that 6 per cent of Ireland was covered in hedgerows, scrub and tree line, it is likely to be a much lower figure today.
Many hedgerows are maintained like suburban hedges trimmed within an inch of their lives each autumn, so they don’t get the chance to produce fruit or berries or provide nesting sites for birds.
Farmers are required to retain landscape features to receive their single farm payment, and refrain from removing hedgerows or trimming during the nesting season (March 1st-August 31st). Experts recommend extending this to include October, which would give birds and mammals the opportunity to feast on berries and nuts during the autumn. Trimming is only necessary once every three years, and should be carried out in December and January rather than in October.
Enforcement by the National Parks & Wildlife Service and agricultural inspectors of the existing legal requirements has been very patchy. Birdwatch Ireland noted in February that a third of the sanctions issued by the Department of Agriculture in 2023 to farmers inspected for compliance with the conditions of the Common Agriculture Policy basic income payment was for removal of designated landscape features such hedges and/or trees during the bird nesting and breeding season.
However, given that only 1 per cent of farmers are inspected annually, compliance overall with this condition may be very low.
In recent years, the Irish agricultural lobby has sought to persuade policymakers that the carbon stored in hedgerows should be used to offset methane emissions from livestock. The 2024 Climate Action Plan included an objective of 40,000km of new hedgerow planting and improved hedgerow management on 75,000km, but to date there is no mention of this target in the most recent reports available from the Climate Action and Delivery Board and not much sign of it being implemented with extra training and financial supports to farmers.
Protecting and restoring hedgerows is a win-win for biodiversity and climate action. But it is easy to set targets. It is much harder to win hearts and minds, especially when a misplaced aesthetic meets the devastating efficiency of the flail.
- Members of the public can report wildlife crime and illegal hedgerow and tree cutting during the nesting season directly to the NPWS or Garda Síochána using the PAW Ireland app available here
Sadhbh O’Neill is a climate and environmental researcher and part-time lecturer at TU Dublin
