While hedgerows are integral to the British rural landscape, marking field boundaries and keeping in livestock since the Bronze Age, post-war government policies put them at risk. It\u2019s estimated that approximately half of Britain\u2019s hedgerows \u2013 mostly in England \u2013 were lost to development and the rapid industrialisation of farming between the 1950s and 1990s. And in more recent years, a lack of maintenance is resulting in gappy hedges.<\/p> Lead researcher of the UKCEH<\/a> hedgerow map project, Dr Richard Broughton, says: \u201cHedgerows are not only an intrinsic part of England\u2019s rural heritage, they can also be a real asset in helping to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> Hedgerows contain a wide variety of trees, shrubs and flowers that provide food, shelter, nesting<\/a> and burrowing sites for birds, small mammals and insects. The dense foliage of a hedge offers a safe haven, protecting birds from raptors, foxes<\/a> and cats, and their linear vegetation acts as a wildlife corridor, linking habitats across farmland. \u00a0<\/p> Hedgerows are also a valuable resource for carbon capture. Dr Broughton adds: \u201cThe new map enables us to see where hedgerows are sparse and identify sites for targeted planting and restoration efforts, linking up habitats and improving the hedgerow network. It can also be used to estimate the potential amount of carbon that hedgerows could remove from the atmosphere and store.\u201d<\/p> The highest hedgerow densities are found in Cornwall, with an average of 5.1km per 1km x 1km square, while the lowest densities are found in Surrey (1.2km per square kilometre), Hampshire (1.5km) and Berkshire (1.7km). UKCEH also mapped another 67,000km of rows of vegetation below 1m in height, and 185,000m taller than 6m, including overgrown hedges that have become rows of young trees. \u00a0<\/p> The UKCEH\u2019s hedgerow maps were made possible by the release of the Environment Agency\u2019s LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) remote sensing data, which was collected over five years as part of the agency\u2019s mapping work. UKCEH scientists then processed the huge amount of data using the JASMIN super-computer \u2013\u00a0a data analysis facility that enables data-intensive environmental science.<\/p>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2024\/01\/Hedgerow_map-overlaid-on-Lincs-landscape.jpg\")