What to Plant ?

Hi Steve - you have a lot of options available to replace it with something far better for wildlife!  How quickly you can replace the habitat really depends on how much you are wanting to spend.  You can buy well-grown on shrubs and trees that can already be several feet high, I got a Holly that was about 4 foot high to join an existing hedge.  You could plant a couple of trees (I've recently removed leylandii and replaced it with three trees and will be adding climbers in the new year), shrubs, climbers, create a woodland patch or meadow or a combination.  There are many options available and you can actually buy a set oif native hedging shrubs from some places to create a new hedge to save the trouble of deciding.

buddlia, good for butterflys, clamatis, once established great for catterpillars, as kattai said native hedging, but ones that produce berries in the fall. passifloria will provide good flowers for you and bugs for the birds.

Hi Steve

I would say the best things to go for from a wildlife point of view would be ivy and honeysuckle to grow along the fence if thats an option. These two native climbers are perfect for wildlife as they provide cover, berries, nectar during flowering and the foliage is also a foodplant to many insects.

If you are looking at shrubs then a mix of native deciduous hedgerow shrubs like hawthorn and hazel would be options but also some evergreen like privet and holly and maybe some non-natives like pyracantha and berberis. It might be worth popping into a few local garden centres to see if you can buy some bare-rooted whips, a cheap and peat free way of buying hedging plants. hese may take a bit longer to establish.

Aim to provide a mix of species that give year round cover, berries, nectar rich flowers and nesting sites. Check out the list of shrubs available to download on the link here.

Thanks guys, given me a few ideas

Hello steve,

If you get a bit of room left over Raspberries don't take up much room and I find they give me a geat incentive to make regular visits! Bees are very keen on the flowers and the leaves must be very tasty to some things as they get well nibbled.