Hedge laying
On to a ‘behedged’ future
Hedge laying is a practice in which the branches of a hedge are laid down using a saw, an ax and some muscle power. They are then braided into an impenetrable wall that blocks the way for people and animals. The hedges zigzag through the landscape like green ribbons. Since centuries ago. They protect us from erosion and form a microclimate for plants and animals. The variation in vegetation ensures a diversity of flora and the woven hedges provide protection for many small animals and insects.
For the Water & Land project we worked together with hedge layers from Flanders and the Netherlands. In Flanders there is a living community around this heritage, often supported by Regional Landscapes. In the Netherlands, this practice has already been added to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory, such as the specific Maasheggen style. After all, there are many styles and techniques that can be applied, but all practitioners are passionate about the same craftsmanship, a centuries-old heritage practice that creates a comforting landscape.
Download here the brochure 'Hedge laying for a 'behedged' future'
Hedge laying is an age-old craft. For hundreds of years, farmers used laid hedges as an impenetrable barrier for fields, meadows and orchards, or as a cattle barrier. The hedges were a functional part of the agricultural landscape and were laid by the farmer himself, or by a professional, travelling hedge layer. In addition, hedges could also have an economic value. After all, they could provide wood or extra food for the cattle. The hedges helped shape the agricultural landscape and determined the character of the region. Finally, the laid hedges could also have a defensive function by forming an extra obstacle around fortifications, for example, or an ornamental role in castle domains and parks.
CAG and KIEN teamed up with hedge layers to explore what contributions this craftsmanship can make in combatting the biodiversity crisis.
If you plant a hedge, if you maintain and trim it regularly, it also fulfils its ecological functions. Because it blooms, it provides nesting opportunities, it provides nectar production, it provides everything.
- Dirk Cuvelier – hedge layer and former coordinator of Regionaal Landschap Westhoek
Hedge laying is an intangible heritage practice with many opportunities for ecological sustainability, biodiversity and climate adaptation. Hedges are important ecological corridors in the agricultural landscape, offer protection against erosion and flooding, break the wind for the benefit of arable crops, and the rooted soil under the hedge ensures better water infiltration. And hedgerows are also interesting in terms of carbon storage, because carbon is captured by both the hedges themselves and by the soil life. They run as ecological, green roads through the countryside and are part of the spatial development of the landscape, making it attractive for people and animals. Hedges offer good protection for breeding birds, insects and small mammals. They form a microclimate with its own temperature and humidity, protect against wind and sun, and offer shade and shelter. The laying itself offers peace, connection with and knowledge about nature as an outdoor activity. The hedges make the landscape ‘comfortable’ and gives a feeling of familiarity, that it has its own character and regional identity
These types of functions can only be fulfilled by hedges if they are healthy and well managed. After all, lack of or incorrect management can undermine the natural value of the hedges. Without management, the hedges grow into rows of trees or an overgrown hedge full of blackberry bushes, while too intensive management is bad for the development of the hedge, often making the bottom bare or hollow, causing the hedge to lose vitality. This is where the importance of laying as a management technique comes to the fore. After all, the laying subjects the hedges to a dynamic management cycle, which requires a long-term vision of the landscape. Hedge laying can thus support and strengthen the ecological advantages of the hedge.
It takes up relatively little space in our landscape, but offers so many functions. The use of woody and living plants to create fences, to which a lot of species are correlated that can be useful in a resilient and balanced nature and ecosystem… That is what we should focus on.
- Jeroen Rappé, Tree-Hive
In the Netherlands and Flanders, there must have once been hundreds of thousands of kilometres of hedges. After research using old maps, the Vereniging Nederlands Cultuurlandschap estimates that since 1900, more than 200,000 kilometres of hedges have disappeared in the Netherlands alone. Less than half of the hedges that were once present remain today. Hedge laying can, through the planting and management of hedges, be an example of a nature- based solution in the management of rural agricultural areas today. In this way, it can play a powerful role in current climate and biodiversity challenges
And the future?
Hedges provide us with various ecosystem services and take up relatively little space, but reintroducing the hedge into the landscape is not easy, let alone laying it down as a management technique. The ground pressure is high in Flanders and the Netherlands. Filling in open space with a hedge that apparently has no economic yield is difficult. By taking the ecosystem services of the hedge seriously and providing compensation where necessary, the (laid) hedges can fulfil their potential as nature-inclusive, regenerative solutions.
