© Gill Stott (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0). Over 80% of the species are species listed here, meeting both the native and species-rich criteria. Note the presence of individual trees that don't meet the "line of trees" criteria (see below).
The following is a short summary of the habitat type and how to create/enhance it to a "good" condition. For an informed position, please refer to official up-to-date UKHAB documentation or the UK Government's Condition Assessment Sheet.
⚠️ Important Information
This is a highly rated distinctiveness habitat. If you have this habitat on your site, you should not use the Small Site Metric.
A hedgerow is defined as any boundary line of trees or shrubs over 20m long and less than 5m wide at the base, provided that at one time the trees or shrubs were more or less continuous. It includes an earth bank or wall only where such a feature occurs in association with a line of trees or shrubs. This includes ‘classic’ shrubby hedgerows, lines of trees, shrubby hedgerows with trees and very gappy hedgerows (where each shrubby section may be less than 20m long, but the gaps are less than 20m) (Source: HM Government)
It is native if over 80% of its canopy cover is UK native or archaeophyte species (Source: UKHAB).
It is species rich if the structural species making up the 30m section of hedgerow include at least five (or at least four in northern and eastern England, upland Wales and Scotland) woody species that are either native somewhere in the UK, or which are archaeophytes), the hedgerow is defined as species-rich. Climbers and bramble do not count towards the total except for roses. Hedgerows that contain fewer woody species but have a rich basal herbaceous flora may also be defined as species-rich, but the criteria to define these have to be set on a local basis as there is no national definition (Source: HM Government)
This category requires there to be individual trees (NOT a line of trees). A tree in a hedgerow counts as an individual tree if its canopy does not touch those of other trees. They can be recognised by having a clear stem or being twice the average height of the hedgerow. Alternatively, they are obvious as individuals that have clearly been favoured as single trees, even if young, by the management regime operating on the hedgerow, for example by being deliberately left unflailed when the rest of the hedgerow has been trimmed. These trees must be in the line of the hedgerow or the nearest point of the tree trunk must be less than 1m from the edge of the woody canopy of hedgerow, bearing in mind that a hedgerow can be up to 5m wide at the base. Lines of trees are recognised as separate from isolated hedgerow trees for survey purposes (Source: HM Government)
How to Create / Enhance to a "Good" condition
There are a set of criteria that are used to judge the condition of this habitat. These are listed below.
A1. | Height | >1.5 m average along length | The average height of woody growth estimated from base of stem to the top of the shoots, excluding any bank beneath the hedgerow, any gaps or isolated trees. |
A2. | Width | >1.5 m average along length | The average width of woody growth estimated at the widest point of the canopy, excluding gaps and isolated trees. |
B1. | Gap - hedge base | Gap between ground and base of canopy <0.5 m for >90% of length | This is the vertical ‘gappiness’ of the woody component of the hedgerow, and its distance from the ground to the lowest leafy growth. |
B2. | Gap - hedge canopy continuity | Gaps make up <10% of total length; and | This is the horizontal ‘gappiness’ of the woody component of the hedgerow. Gaps are complete breaks in the woody canopy (no matter how small). |
C1. | Undisturbed ground and perennial vegetation | >1 m width of undisturbed ground with perennial herbaceous vegetation for >90% of length:
| This is the level of disturbance (excluding wildlife disturbance) at the base of the hedgerow. |
C2. | Nutrient-enriched perennial vegetation | Plant species indicative of nutrient enrichment of soils dominate <20% cover of the area of undisturbed ground. | The indicator species used are nettles Urtica spp., cleavers Galium aparine and docks Rumex spp. Their presence, either singly or together, does not exceed the 20% cover threshold. |
D1. | Invasive and neophyte species | >90% of the hedgerow and undisturbed ground is free of invasive non-native plant species (including those listed on Schedule 9 of WCA3) and recently introduced species. | Recently introduced species refer to plants that have naturalised in the UK since AD 1500 (neophytes). Archaeophytes count as natives. For information on archaeophytes and neophytes see the JNCC website4, as well as the BSBI website5 where the ‘Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora’6 contains an up-to-date list of the status of species. For information on invasive non-native species see the GB Non-Native Secretariat website7. |
D2. | Current damage | >90% of the hedgerow or undisturbed ground is free of damage caused by human activities. | This criterion addresses damaging activities that may have led to or lead to deterioration in other attributes. |
Additional group - applicable to hedgerows with trees only |
|
|
|
E1. | Tree class | There is more than one age-class (or morphology) of tree present (for example: young, mature, veteran and or ancient8), and there is on average at least one mature, ancient or veteran tree present per 20 - 50m of hedgerow. | This criterion addresses if there are a range of age-classes or morphologies which allow for replacement of trees and provide opportunities for different species. |
E2. | Tree health | At least 95% of hedgerow trees are in a healthy condition (excluding veteran features valuable for wildlife). There is little or no evidence of an adverse impact on tree health by damage from livestock or wild animals, pests or diseases, or human activity. | This criterion identifies if the trees are subject to damage which compromises the survival and health of the individual specimens. |
Condition categories for hedgerows without trees |
Category | Category Requirements | Metric Score |
Good | No more than 2 failures in total; | 3 |
Moderate | No more than 4 failures in total; | 2 |
Poor | Fails a total of more than 4 attributes; | 1 |
Condition categories for hedgerows with trees |
Category | Category Requirements | Metric score |
|
Good | No more than 2 failures in total; | 3 |
|
Moderate |
| No more than 5 failures in total; | 2 |
Poor | Fails a total of more than 5 attributes; | 1 |
|
Footnotes |
Footnote 1 – DEFRA (2007) Hedgerow Survey Handbook. A standard procedure for local surveys in the UK. [online] Available on: |
Footnote 2 – STALEY, J.T. ET AL. (2020) Definition of Favourable Conservation Status for Hedgerows. [online] Available on: |
Footnote 3 – Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). |
Footnote 4 – CHEFFINGS, C. M. et al. (2005) The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain. Species Status 7: 1-116. [online] Available on: |
Footnote 5 – BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND (BSBI). Definitions: wild, native or alien? [online] Available on: |
Footnote 6 – BSBI and Biological Records Centre (BRC) (2022) Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. [online] Available on: |
Footnote 7 – GB NON-NATIVE SPECIES SECRETARIAT (GBNNSS) (2022) Available on: |
Footnote 8 – See gov.uk standing advice on ancient and veteran trees. Available from: |
and |
Useful Resources
If you are interested in enhancing or creating this habitat, you should consider the following (all recommended by CIEEM or HM Government):