Hedgerow Restoration
East Lothian’s pathway to a greener, resilient ecosystem
The East Lothian Climate Hub is raising funds to protect our local biodiversity, landscape and traditional skills.
Healthy, well-managed hedgerows are the living tissue that link habitats in farmland, urban and wilderness areas. As green corridors they are havens for wildlife. The hedgerows of Scotland are a lifeline for over 2000 different species. In networks, reaching across the country, they offer an important resource for animals: a home for a resilient, thriving and interconnected ecosystem.
However these important habitats that link our green spaces are in decline.
Only a third of Scotland’s hedgerow was considered in good health by the last Countryside Survey in Scotland and is fast disappearing.
The traditional skills and knowledge needed to maintain hedgerows are also fading.
We are at a critical point for saving this manmade habitat and the familiar landscape of East Lothian from deterioration beyond repair, and the thousands of species that rely on them.
As well as part of East Lothian’s rural identity, hedges offer vital refuge for animals and insects. As a resource holding wildlife and carbon sinks, they are resilient in an increasingly unpredictable climate of extremes.
This is why the East Lothian Climate Hub believes the time is now to establish a dedicated role to work with landowners and volunteers on training and maintenance of hedgerows.
The state of Scottish hedgerows
The large-scale loss of hedgerow is a well documented issue in France, England and northern Europe. Land consolidation and other trends have seen a gradual loss of hedgerow area since the 1950s. Surveying local farms shows the rural landscape of Scotland and East Lothian are not immune to this trend.
Megan Gimber, hedgerow expert from the People’s Trust for Endangered Species says that much of East Lothian’s existing hedgerow is at a critical stage.
“Unfortunately, the majority of hedges I have seen in East Lothian are not living up to their extraordinary potential. In fact, it is clear that there has already been considerable hedgerow loss through lack of timely rejuvenation, and many of the remaining hedges have declined to the point of extreme gappiness.”
It takes up to 50 years for hedgerow to reach maturity, so maintaining existing hedge is a priority over planting new borders. Restoring East Lothian’s hedgerows to health is a long-term project.
It’s not only these habitats but the specialist skills and local knowledge that are at risk of disappearing. By 2024 there were only a handful of professional hedgelayers in all of Scotland.
Unless there is intervention and urgent hedgerow management we could lose this resource and the skills and knowledge required for their maintenance.
Mission critical: Drylaw Hill Farm
Enthusiastic engagement of landowners has enabled a “beacon of hope” in East Lothian.
The East Lothian Climate Hub has been working with volunteers and landowners on pilot farms in the region from late 2024. Since then the East Lothian Hedgerow Restoration working group has trained 30 volunteers in surveying and 14 more in hedgelaying techniques with oversight from East Lothian Council Countryside Rangers and Megan Gimber of PTES.
Much of this work has been conducted in a small corridor of land, around the pilot site of Drylaw Hill Farm. Having had the enthusiastic collaboration of two local landowners, the group has helped develop a 10 year management plan it has become a template for the project.
“We are at mission critical point here, and without the focus of a restoration project, we will undoubtedly see hedge loss here in the next decade,” says Gimber.
“Drylaw Hill farm, with the enthusiastic engagement of the landowners, could be a beacon of hope in East Lothian.”
Having demonstrated the value of the work at Drylaw the working group has earned the trust of a small network of three further landowners, including neighbouring farms at the Smeaton Estate.
“It’s been a real pleasure to see the progress so far,” say farmers Robs and Tommy Dale.
“We see this as a hugely positive initiative for both the farm and the surrounding area.”
The Climate Hub has trained over 40 volunteers at hedge laying workshops across East Lothian.
Hedgerows: the opportunity
The time is now for protecting East Lothian’s green borders. This is why we want to raise funds to create a network of farms and landholdings with a ten-year hedgerow plan and establish a dedicated Hedgerow Officer role to work with landowners and volunteers on training and maintenance.
This is an opportunity to protect our local biodiversity, landscape and traditional skills.
“Instead of seeing this as a disaster, we can choose to focus on the opportunity this provides us with,” says Megan Gimber of PTES.
“It is exciting to have the enthusiastic buy-in from the farmers themselves, as together we can help design a hedgerow system of maximum benefit all round.”
The larger the network of healthy hedgerows the greater the benefits of this interconnected habitat; the stronger and more resilient our natural habitats will be.
So far we have trained over 40 volunteers and received enthusiastic support from local landowners. We want to grow our green conservation network across East Lothian and spread the benefits this resource brings.
Why we love hedgerows
- Hedgerows are crucial for biodiversity, supporting over 2000 species. A two-year survey of plants, animals and macro fungi associated with a single hedge in southwest England found over 2070 different species (Wolton, 2015) Meanwhile arable pasture contains between 40 to a couple of hundred species, depending on how intensively it is farmed. (UK National Ecosystem Assessment, UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge. Carey PD, 2013)
- Hedgerows sequester carbon at twice the rate of trees Compared with other forestry types hedgerows store far
more biomass below-ground in their roots. This makes them a valuable carbon sink and more resilient to droughts and extreme weather. (Drexler et al 2023, GWCT 2021) - Hedgerows boost the wider economy
Analysis by the Council for the Preservation of Rural England found that that for every £1 spent on hedgerows, a return of as much as £3.92 can be expected as a result of some key ecosystem services and economic activities associated with hedgerows. (CPRE Hedge Fund Report, 2021)
The importance of conserving hedgerows
There are many benefits to protecting old hedge stocks over just planting new borders
- It takes up to 50 years for hedgerow to reach maturity and peak soil carbon storage, so maintaining old hedges is far higher priority than planting new borders. (Planting Hedgerows: Biomass carbon sequestration and contribution towards net-zero targets, Biffi et al. 2023)
- Carbon stored below ground and in soil is rapidly lost back to the atmosphere when hedges are lost. (Soil carbon and ‘ghost’ hedgerows, van Den Berge, Agroforestry Sysytems 2021)