Joining up our gardens
I’m lucky because my odd-shaped garden, which wraps around our house, is bordered on all sides by privet hedging mostly, with a nice mix of hawthorn and elder at the front. I say lucky, though they take a hefty amount of pruning through the year to keep in check – always a bit of a chore! But I love my hedges, large and gangly as they may be, for the amazing bird and animal life they support.
I like to see them as nature corridors. Nest and shelter sites, of course, while birds, bats and butterflies also use them as ‘flight highways’, natural markers to guide their travel around the countryside and through and between gardens. They’re nice, familiar routes for them to help connect up our green spaces into one big, safe habitat. Bare, sterile fences and walls just don’t cut it – they make it very difficult for animals to freely move from one garden to another. However, climbing plants, trees and large bushes grown next to them help give access in and out. If a bird sees a tree or a bush, it can work its way down into your garden knowing there are safe perches to retire to if danger appears. You can also add holes at the base of fences and walls so hedgehogs can come and go. This is a big perk of hedges – the instant connectivity between gardens at ground level. There are always problems, of course. Our neighbour’s cat used to creep under the hedge onto our plot and try to duff up one of our cats. I stopped him with a section of chicken wire by his favourite entrance and he’s not been in since! I’m careful, though, to leave the rest of the hedging clear and free for other animals to come and go.
Long sections of your lawn make for good nature highways; voles, slow worms and other creatures can traverse through this shelter instead of the open danger of short turf. Ladybirds and other beetles shelter within it, too. Plus, if you look at it the other way, equally as important is you’re also providing plenty of sheltering prey for hungry animals, and useful hiding spots for predators!