Field margins and hedgerows

Hedges are an integral part of our landscape and our culture. These original field boundaries provide an essential habitat and refuge for a wealth of farmland wildlife. They were also used traditionally as a source of food, fuel and timber.

Birds such as the mistle thrush and wood warbler, butterflies such as the peacock and meadow brown, and mammals such as bats and hedgehogs all use the shelter and food supply in a hedge. Hedges also act as wildlife corridors, helping animals to move through open farmland while staying under cover. 

Hedgerow trees add further variety to the hedge. They can provide food, nesting sites and song posts for wildlife, and shelter and shade for livestock as well as wood and fruit for people.

Threats to our hedgerows

At present, there are about 46,000 km of hedgerows in Scotland. This is roughly equivalent to the circumference of the Earth! However, now that hedges are no longer essential as stock-proof field boundaries, they are often left unmanaged. Or, in contrast, they may be cut short every year so that they provide few fruits and berries and little shelter amongst their branches. Hedges need to be layered and trimmed every two or three years to keep them dense and to maintain a good source of food and shelter for wildlife.  

Field margins

Conservation headlands, beetlebanks and grass margins around arable fields are all kept free of pesticides so that invertebrates can thrive. The insects living in these strips provide food for birds and small mammals - they can also include crop pollinators and predators of crop pests. Unsprayed field margins act as a buffer between the crop, with its chemical applications, and the adjacent unsprayed habitat.

Field margins are under threat from agricultural intensification because they take an area of land out of maximum production.