Devon County Council

Devon Hedge Watch

On 13 March 2010 the Devon Hedge Group launches the Devon Hedge Watch to find the finest and most distinctive hedges across the county.  We invite all residents and visitors to Devon to help us find the very best hedges in Devon.

We will use the top entries to help publicise and celebrate Devon’s extraordinary hedgerow heritage.  As well as having more hedgerows than any other county in the British Isles, you can help us to demonstrate the extraordinary diversity and quality of Devon’s hedges.

For the first fifty entries to the Hedge Watch, the Devon Hedge Group will send out complimentary copies of the attractive publication Devon’s Hedges: Conservation and Management, which is packed full of useful information. The first five entries will also receive a free copy of the acclaimed recent hedgerow DVD, A Cut Above the Rest.

How to enter

To take part in the Devon Hedge Watch please provide us with information on a hedge you know which is either particularly distinctive or especially rich in species.

• Fill in the Devon Hedge Watch online entry form. If you wish to send in a photograph of your hedge please e-mail (along with your details) to:  hedges@devon.gov.uk
• Or, print the entry form and send it by post to:  Devon Hedge Group, Environment, Economy & Culture, Devon County Council, Lucombe House, County Hall, Exeter, EX2 4QW.

Entry guidance

• One way to enter is to count and record the number of different native species of tree and shrub in a single 30 metre length of the hedgerow you have chosen(view the gallery of trees and shrubs typical of Devon’s hedges). Hedges with many different types of trees and shrubs support more wildlife than those with just a few. Also hedges with lots of trees and shrubs tend to be older and of greater historical significance.  Hooper’s rule of thumb says that every species in a 30 metre stretch represents about a century, so a hedge with five species might be 500 years old, and so on.
• Native tree and shrub species found in Devon are listed in the photo galleries and guidance. Only native species, or those that have been long-established in the wild, should be included in the score.  
• Alternatively, provide a short description of why you think your hedge is especially distinctive or special and, if possible, send us a photograph. What are the features that make it stand out from other hedges or, indeed, which make it so characteristic of your local area? Is it the pattern or style of the stone facing, or the size of the earth bank? Are there fine old trees growing in the hedge?  Perhaps it holds something unusual like a Devon whitebeam or small-leaved lime. Or it may even be part of an unusual or ancient field pattern created by a network of hedges.
• If the hedgerow is not next to a public right of way or on public land, please  ask permission from the landowner or manager first before you inspect it.
• You may record and submit entries at anytime

Further guidance

The notes below provide more detailed guidance on how to determine how species-rich a hedge is in terms of its trees or shrubs.

• Pace or measure out a length of 30m, marking each end with a stick or other object. If you can, pick a section that is away from the ends of the hedgerow, since this will be likely to be more representative of the hedge as a whole.
• Try and have a look at both sides of the hedge if you can, but please take care alongside roads and other hazardous places.
• Both tall hedges (that now look like lines of trees) and short, classic, hedges can be included. The height of the bank does not matter. The only restriction is that the hedge must be less than 5m wide between outermost woody stems at the bottom.

View photos of many of the trees and shrubs you are likely to find in Devon. Further keys and  photos can be found on The Woodland Trust site,  Science and Plants for Schools and Aphotoflora.

Creepers and ramblers like bramble, honeysuckle and ivy don’t count (but record them anyhow). Hedges that have been planted within the last 20 years are not eligible.

Recommended identification guides include:

• A Guide to the Identification of Deciduous Broad-Leaved Trees and Shrubs in Winter, by J Panter and A May, Field Studies Council
• Collins Tree Guide, by Owen Johnson and David More, Harper Collins.

More about the diversity of Devon’s hedges

Characteristically, nearly all our hedges have banks upon which the trees and shrubs grow. At times these banks are huge, several metres high, for example separating fields in the hilly Blackdowns. On other occasions, they may be fairly low, either because that is the way they were built, or because they have been eroded down over the years, as in parts of West Devon. Then the bank may be faced either with stone or with turf. Through much of Dartmoor the banks are faced with granite stones, often huge interlocking boulders that must have taken enormous skill and strength to lift and fit into place. In other places, often along the coast, the stones are set in a beautiful herring bone pattern, as at Morte Point.

Most of the county’s hedges are species-rich, with 5 or more species per 30m stretch, but some characteristically have fewer trees and shrubs. In a few places like parts of East Devon where the hedgerows were planted relatively recently in the 19^th century, they are still dominated predominantly by hawthorn, or more rarely by blackthorn. On Exmoor, many hedges were planted just with beech, and these have often developed into fine lines of trees which are very characteristic of the landscape. On our other large upland, Dartmoor, the banks often support a limited but distinctive selection of rowan, birch, holly or thorn. Near the coast, hedges with abundant gorse are not uncommon, creating spectacular lines of bright yellow across the countryside in the spring.