How Do Age A Hedgerow?

We thought this was a fascinating little 'snippet' on how to age a hedgerow...

Apparently you can work out a rough age of an established country hedgerow by applying the following 'formula':

Work out the length of approx 30 metres of the hedgerow and then count the number of different trees and shrubs in that length. When you've worked out the number of plants multiply this by 100 and that gives you an approximate age for the hedgerow as, reportedly, a new species establishes itself roughly every 100 years!

You can find out more about hedgerows and their value to the wildlife and the UK countryside on the BBC Nature website, including a great little (2 minute) video of Bill Oddie explaining the 'age a hedge' principal in action!  There's some lovely wild flowers in the video too...

Enjoy!