Hedgerows at Ryton Pools Country Park
This National Tree Week, find out more about the incredible work happening at Ryton Pools Country Park to enhance biodiversity and create thriving natural habitats.
By Grassland Specialist Ranger Ben
Over the past decade, an ongoing project to improve both habitat and connectivity for our biodiversity has seen over 32,000 trees planted at Ryton Pools Country Park.
This work, much of which has been supported by Warwickshire Wildlife Trust’s Dunsmore Living Landscape Team, has created or improved over two miles of hedgerow, creating a continuous natural corridor across the site in a significant boost to biodiversity.
There are many factors to consider when the opportunity arises to create such a sizeable linear space for wildlife and, from the outset, we wanted our hedgerows to be exceptional. In departure from traditional wildlife hedgerow planting wisdom, which focuses on a mix of approximately six or seven predominant species, twenty-six species were planted in a bid to provide food, shelter and good habitat to benefit the greatest range of wildlife possible. This included some more unusual heritage hedgerow species not regularly encountered in Warwickshire including Wayfaring Tree, Wild Service Tree and Barberry. Barberry has been removed from huge swathes of the UK countryside as it harbours the Wheat Rust fungus which has historically caused issues with wheat crops.
One of our primary considerations was to ensure our new hedgerows had a good blossom sequence across the entire site to benefit all our myriad pollinating insects. Cherry Plum is a vital first base in any hedgerow as it is the earliest to bloom, usually bedecking hedgerows in their foamy white blossom as early as February. This provides an essential early food source for insects awakening from their winter torpor, most especially some of the earlier mining bees.
From then on, it is vital that a continuous sequence of blossom is maintained to ensure year-round sustenance for all our pollinators. Working with soil type and hydrology we have ensured that in future this will be the case, with Blackthorn, Sallow, Hawthorn, Lime, Wild and Bird Cherry, Wild Pear, Crab Apple and Spindle continuing the sequence. Additionally, many of these and other trees we have included in our planting also produce berries, fruit and nuts later in the year which provide food for birds and mammals during winter.
Many butterflies and moths require specific species of tree to complete their lifecycles. Tree species utilised by caterpillars as food plants were included in the mix with Buckthorn and Alder Buckthorn for the Brimstone Butterfly, Blackthorn (with Ash overstorey) for Brown Hairstreak and Elm for White-Letter Hairstreak and Dusky-lemon Sallow Moth to name but a few.
Hedgerow structure is also vital to ensure maximum benefit to wildlife. Generally, a taller, thicker hedge supports a greater range of wildlife including small mammals (shelter from predators and food), plant eating insects, birds (food, shelter and nest sites), butterflies and reptiles. Hence, double or triple-rowed hedgerows were planted with a range of different species in each row with the diversity maintained each winter with the replanting of any dead trees. In addition, hedgerow “standard” trees were also planted. These are larger, standalone trees intended to be left to grow to full maturity within the hedge adding height, structure and cover. In Warwickshire there were three tree species which stood out to best fulfil this role: Oak, Small-leaved Lime and disease resistant Elm. Oak supports a colossal 2300 other species throughout its lifecycle (including over 350 species of insect), Small-leaved Lime is the historical Warwickshire woodland “climax community” cover species and Elm, decimated by Dutch elm disease in the 1970’s, gave rise to the original “Leafy Warwickshire” moniker.
Our fledgeling hedgerows are now growing well and are managed in several different ways to ensure they maintain their structure and diversity, including topping to promote basal growth and laying during the winter to prolong the life of our hedges.
