Guest blogger Helen Whitall tells us why Hedge Laying became one of her most satisfying ways to volunteer
I’ve been volunteering on the Exe Estuary reserves for three years, since leaving my job in London and moving down to Exeter for my husband’s job. I love the RSPB’s work saving nature, so I decided to make the most of my time whilst I looked for work by volunteering. I have volunteered by helping at RSPB events with the public, being a ‘guide in the hide’ at Bowling Green Marsh, making use of my science background by helping out in the office with some conservation science, and also getting out and about on the local RSPB reserves helping with some of the practical maintenance work that’s essential to keeping these places in top condition for nature. One of my favourite tasks, and definitely the most satisfying, has been hedge laying.
We are fortunate to have the rare cirl bunting living on some of the reserves. We volunteers help give them and other species a home by looking after the meadows and hedgerows.
Hedge laying looks very destructive, but is actually one of the best ways to keep a hedge in good shape. It involves stripping off the side branches of the hedge plants to leave a single trunk, slicing it across, bending it down so it is almost horizontal, and weaving them in between stakes along the hedge line. Although it looks extreme, this encourages the plant to send up lots of new vertical shoots, as well as the laid trunks providing a horizontal structure.
It was traditionally done to create a living fence that would stop livestock escaping through. But it is also brilliant for birds and other wildlife, as the impenetrable structure and thick growth creates safe places to nest and feed. If this isn’t done, a hedge can easily develop gaps and bare trunks, which makes it less suitable for birds like cirls to nest in.
The work is carried out through the winter, whilst the trees are dormant and before they start putting on new growth in the spring, which also avoids the birds’ breeding season. As I started volunteering in autumn, it was one of my first tasks. Bad weather and bramble scratches were not enough to put me off; it’s pleasing working directly with living trees and learning an ancient craft, and you can easily see the results of a day’s work. I now look forward to our winter jobs!
We spent that first winter laying hedges on Powderham Marsh; when we were finished, the hedge looked so bare that some volunteers were worried it might not survive. But that very spring we were rewarded with the sight and sound of cirl buntings singing away in the same hedge we had cut, and by mid summer it had grown up so vigorously it was unrecognisable!
It’s been incredibly rewarding seeing such visible results as rare cirl buntings setting up home in a hedge I helped maintain; sights like that are definitely worth the hard work.
If Helen has inspired you to think about volunteering and making a difference, visit our volunteering opportunities to find out how you can get involved.