RSPB Senior Policy Officer Verity Winn encourages RSPB supporters to respond to the current Defra Hedgerow Consultation ...
In a fragmented agricultural landscape, hedgerows provide essential habitat, food and connectivity for nature, and a vital carbon store with benefits for farm businesses and people alike. In the context of the nature and climate crises and stagnant agricultural emissions, planting and protecting hedgerows are some of the best tools available to mitigate these crises. However, from 1st January 2024, hedgerows on agricultural land will lose key protections and become vulnerable to removal and damage, with potentially dire consequences for species that depend upon them.
Currently, hedgerows are protected by The Hedgerows Regulations 1997, but only if they meet a narrow definition of an ‘important’ hedge. On agricultural land, GAEC 7a has protected hedgerows since 2003 but will end from January, leaving many important hedgerows vulnerable. Defra is consulting on what should replace this regulation, calling into question the no cutting period which protects nesting birds and the two-meter buffer around hedgerows. With resources for wildlife on most farmland already scarce, it is vital these protections are at least retained.
We are formulating our detailed response, but it is important that others who care about hedgerows also respond to the consultation. Our thoughts on some of the consultation questions are set out below, which we hope you find helpful in writing your own response.
You can read the consultation document and answer the questions on the Defra website. The consultation closes on Wednesday 20 September, although Defra are welcoming early responses.
Yes, 2m buffer strips must be maintained, and Defra should consider the evidence for extending them to 4m. Buffers safeguard and enhance the structure of hedgerows in short and long term, by protecting them from disturbance from ploughing and spraying of pesticides and herbicides. These wildlife-rich buffer strips are also an important habitat in their own right for many species, and along with hedges, create habitat connectivity across agricultural landscapes.
Because some hedgerow planting and maintenance is paid for under government’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, protecting the quality of hedgerows also protects the value of the public’s investment in them.
No, in the context of the current nature and climate crises, no hedgerows should be jeopardised. Field size has no necessary correlation to the natural capital and importance of a hedgerow.
Smaller fields will still gain the benefits of pollinators, natural pest control and shade for livestock from healthy hedgerows, helping to save money on inputs and boosting crop yields.
No, we do not support this exemption as the impacts of herbicide and pesticide spraying and root disturbance will detrimentally affect the establishment, growth and future structure of new hedgerows. This could reduce their future value for wildlife.
Yes, we welcome Defra’s commitment to ensure hedge management safeguards wildlife and supports biodiversity. Between 1970 and 2018, most farmland birds that use hedges declined in numbers, some by as much as 98% in the case of Turtle Dove.
It is critical that the no cutting period remains, to allow threatened farmland bird populations to stabilise and increase, and to protect other threatened wildlife, including threatened mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects and other invertebrates. There should be no gap in regulation after January, as this would jeopardise the 2024 nesting season; Defra must work quickly to bring in replacement safeguards from January.
Defra should incentivise wildlife-friendly hedgerow management through ELM, such as funding for three-year rotational cutting, hedge laying, double fencing and the creation of flower-rich, scrub-like habitat next to hedgerows.
We recommend that the no cutting period must remain as 1 March to 31 August. Others may feel it should be extended beyond 31 August and should respond as they feel is appropriate.
There is clear, longstanding evidence that farmland birds nest from March into early September. Most nests are in the outer layers of hedges which are most vulnerable to cutting.
Bringing forward the end date of the no cutting period would have a disproportionately negative impact on breeding success. Many species of conservation concern, including Linnet, Yellowhammer, Cirl Bunting, Song Thrush and Turtle Dove have unfledged chicks in nests into August. For several red-listed species such as Yellowhammer, evidence demonstrates that late broods are disproportionately important for producing enough young to support populations.
Nesting habits are fluctuating in response to climate change, particularly for threatened farmland birds. In 2022, Wood Pigeons, Barn Owls and Bullfinches had delayed nesting seasons, whilst Turtle Dove, Cirl Bunting and Wood Pigeon are known to routinely nest into September. Defra should consider evidence for extending the no cutting period to include 1 March to 15 September, to make sure regulations continue to be fit for purpose in a rapidly changing climate.
Whilst exemptions relating to health and safety considerations should be replicated, others should not be. In particular, exemptions for sowing oil seed rape or temporary grassland during the no cutting period endanger nesting birds. By planning and managing hedges on a three-year rotational basis, these crops can be sowed outside the no cutting period.
Yes, removing the need to apply for an exemption risks mass breaching of the regulations. It does not represent good value to weaken the current standard, when this is already an established process for farmers.
No, this would make significant lengths of hedgerow vulnerable, including those funded by the government under ELM. Defra should not weaken the current standard that is met by many farmers. RSPB analysis shows that even a 10% loss of hedgerow coverage in England would result in the release of nearly 0.5 million tonnes of CO2e (MtCO2e) currently stored above and below ground.
Hedgerow policy is a crucial area for meeting key environmental targets, particularly government’s species abundance target to halt the decline in species populations by 2030 and increase them by 10% by 2042, and to reach net zero by 2050. It is vital that Defra develops a second stage of broader protections for hedgerows and incentives for advanced hedgerow management within ELM.
Defra should also provide good advice for farmers on planning long-term hedge management, including laying and trimming, on a three-year rotational basis, and fill other regulation gaps left by the end of cross compliance.
Yes, extending protections to hedgerows outside agricultural land is a ‘no regrets’ step towards meeting biodiversity and carbon targets. This would create habitat and connectivity for a range of threatened wildlife. This would also have significant benefits for people: urban hedges provide important climate change mitigation in vulnerable areas by providing shade, aiding the removal of airborne pollutants, capturing rainfall to mitigate flooding and improving health and wellbeing.
Appalling news today that this Govt intends easing rules that prevent house builders from polluting wetlands and waterways. In a country that’s had its wetlands decimated over decades. Nature isn’t safe with this Govt.
Recently our local council in Lincolnshire passed planning permission to remove 400m of valuable hedgerow 'to improve farming access to fields'. While this may benefit large agricultural companies who farm at an industrial level, it penalises the smaller farmers who follow better more sustainable farming methods and land and animal husbandry, who are finding it ever harder to compete with large companies whose impact on the environment is huge, but whose lobbying and monetary support carries weight with planners and local politicians. Local farmers, communities and wildlife must be protected from these cross-county land grabbers who have no empathy with or direct connection to the areas in which they are removing whole ecosystems. Lack of local government oversight has allowed this to happen, so it is at national legislative level that greater protection is needed.
It seems such a brilliant, simple way to support nature & our fragile wildlife. Let's not delay any longer - let's promote & protect our hedgerows.
I would just like to add my voice to the RSPB's response to the DEFRA Hedgerow Consultation, and say that I agree with all the previous comments. Hedgerows are a vital part of natures habitat, in that they provide a home, protection, refuge to many of our native species, whilst also protecting the land within which they are growing, from erosion by the elements. They also provide wildlife corridors between other larger areas of wildlife habitat. DEFRA should be be extending their protection of and encouraging replanting some of these extremely important parts of our countryside , farmland and other areas where hedges are found.