Countryside charity CPRE Hampshire has been creating a nature recovery corridor, to link the South Downs National Park and the New Forest National Park.
On Friday, January 17, the charity celebrated reaching the halfway point of the three-year project, which aims to plant 15km of greenery and create a “Hampshire Hedge”.
Ellie Banks (left) and Yolande Lomes from CPRE Hampshire oversaw the celebration (Image: Chris Atkinson) READ MORE: CPRE Hampshire to put on event celebrating hedge project
Local MPs, county and district councillors, key partners and funders marked the occasion at an event in the Hillier Gardens’ Arboretum, where they planted hedgerow whips.
The event was overseen by Hampshire Hedge CPRE members Ellie Banks, who started the project, and Yolande Lomes.
Yolande said: “We are celebrating the halfway point of our planting today, so we’ve reached seven-and-a-half km out of our 15km target, over the three years; this is the second year of the project.
“It’s a great celebration to get all of our different stakeholders together, so funders, landowners, teachers, councillors, and everyone who has been involved in the project has come along to celebrate this great achievement with us.
“Everyone has been so invested and it’s such an important project, having lost half of our hedgerows in the last 80 years, and it is vital that we get more hedgerows across the UK and get hedgerows into better management because they are such a vital habitat for different wildlife.”
Yolande said that the project will conclude in 2026, with CPRE having one more winter to continue planting. The next steps will include planting the final two-and-a-half km, and continuing hedge laying courses to train people in how to do it.
Yolande continued: “A big issue with hedgerow management is that there are not enough people trained in hedge laying. Every hedge should be laid in its life, that’s just a vital part of hedgerow management.
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Volunteers planting the hedgerows (Image: Chris Atkinson) “So, we feel very strongly that more young people need to be inspired to take on the skill of hedge laying, which will increase the amount of people working in that industry, and hopefully get the ball rolling with more hedge laying happening across the UK.”
Fran Clifton, head gardener at Hillier Gardens, said: “Hillier Gardens, being a charity ourselves, we know how important it is to join up with others. Joining forces means a project can have bigger exposure, bigger coverage, but it also means we can achieve the bigger picture.
“And CPRE is just a fantastic charity to be involved with. It is very well organised by Ellie and Yolande, and we have their volunteers join our volunteers and I think the whole thing became a very good communal effort of making this hedge work.”