How Important are Countryside Hedges?

The English countryside is renowned for its beauty and greenery. The lush hills and dales and hedgerows offer a bountiful sight for all to view. What would a typical country landscape be, without carefully planted hedgerows that offer protection, serve as natural boundaries and are so pleasing to the eye? Properly pruned hedges are aesthetically pleasing and are characteristic to the British countryside.

The art of laying hedges was first developed in the Neolithic Age to enclose farms and cultivated land. The British Isles is home to some of the most ancient hedges. Some hedgerows in the British Isles that still separate fields from lanes date back to the medieval era (more than seven hundred years ago)!

When maintained properly, by regular pruning and trimming, the structures can survive for centuries offering a beautiful place for wildlife to be sheltered. Common animals that colonise and seek refuge in hedgerows are hedgehogs, birds, squirrels and other rodents. According to studies hedgerows are very important to the wildlife in the United Kingdom. Some 20 mammalian species, 65 species of bird and 1500 insect species as well as over 600 types of flowering plants make their homes in English hedges. The diversity of plants and animals that are prevalent in the country hedges is remarkable.

Hedgerows are excellent for providing habitat to so many local species and act as effective corridors of wildlife to run across the heart of the British Isles. Hedgerows not only provided natural barriers and enclosures for farmland, they were effective deterrents to invading armies. Some references to the hedgerows were made by the Julius Caesar, when marauding Roman armies were attempting to subjugate the Gauls. The sturdy barriers created from saplings, bent and intertwined with brambles and thorns, were almost impossible to infiltrate. Roman warriors were unsuccessful in many instances of breaching these immensely hardy and impenetrable structures.

Managing hedgerows on your property can be a difficult task. If they are not maintained and trimmed properly, gaps appear in the row that are unattractive. Modern arborists and tree surgeons have access to speciality pruning equipment like cherry pickers and telescopic pruning equipment for meticulous and high quality projects. Immaculately maintained and pruned bushes are aesthetic in appearance and improve the landscaping of a property, regardless of whether it is residential or commercial. Pruning is an art that requires a talent and technique.
Only trained specialist arborists are able to achieve the desired features and shapes in their hedges. Guildford residents can find expert professionals for full services – trimming, reduction, removal and replanting.