As I walk out across the field on a crisp winter’s morning with my tools and sandwiches, I begin to understand the scale of the task I have taken on in restoring this particular hedge.

Unmanaged for a good many years, it has become a line of small trees around five meters high, and has several gaps where livestock have pushed through.

The chosen technique to fix these problems is called hedgelaying and, done well, it can be easy to overlook on your travels through the countryside.

But what is hedgelaying - and why do we still practice it?

Hedgelaying is a seemingly aggressive and miraculous traditional technique used to thicken up, restore and rejuvenate hedgerows. Traditionally used to keep livestock in fields before wire or wooden fences were invented, a range of regional styles were established throughout the UK.

I start by clearing bramble and short vegetation away from the sides of the hedge, so that I can work on the plants forming the main hedgerow.

Next comes the fun - if aggressive - part, as I take a tool called a billhook and hack into the trunk of a tree. I’m aiming to leave just a thin section of wood and bark, enough to lay the tree down without snapping it off completely. This builds the hedge and fills the gaps as I lay each tree on the one before it.

To support the hedge, I drive wooden poles into the ground, then bind these together by weaving long, flexible wooden rods along the top of the hedge.

These materials have been harvested by coppicing hazel - another traditional craft.

Assuming I lay the hedge well and don’t accidentally cut too many trees clean off (easier done than it sounds), I can come back in the spring and see these plants growing into a strong hedge. Seeing this little miracle is a big part of the enjoyment of hedgelaying and worth all those times I get spiked by the hawthorn.

But what benefits – other than a neat hedge and sense of pride – are there?

Wildlife!

Enjoyment and wildlife are the two reasons I practice hedgelaying: hedgerows are vital for wildlife in the farmed landscape.

A mix of native trees and shrubs such as hawthorn, dog rose and hazel, hedges are full of food for animals. This makes healthy hedgerows a great spot for wildlife watching in autumn and winter particularly, as a robin reminds me by flying in close while I work.

You can also look for winter thrushes such as redwings cleaning up the remaining berries from the hedges in February as they start to think about migrating bcak to Iceland and Scandinavia.

Hedges also act as highways for wildlife by providing natural corridors across fields and other human landscapes: birds, butterflies, bats, other small mammals and even plants use hedges this way.

Hedgelaying helps enhance this by encouraging new growth, making the hedge denser, more predator-proof and safer for nesting.

As I work on my hedge, wrestling to separate one tree from another, I remember this, and it is why we do hedgelaying in winter when the disturbance causes the least damage to the hedge and wildlife.

The hedge I’m working on has been laid once before, with new growth shooting out of horizontal trunks. However, the oldest hedges are likely to have been laid many times over, so helping them to reach their grand age. These hedges can be rich in plant species, some usually found exclusively in ancient woodland. This is less surprising if you think of hedges as a linear woodland.

Unfortunately, thousands of miles of hedgerow have been removed since the Second World War as agriculture intensified. This meant less food and shelter available for many species, as well as isolating some populations. Hedgerows are better valued and understood now and BBOWT are playing our part in replanting and restoring healthy hedgerows to the landscape.

We plant new hedges on our reserves where possible and help landowners to plant new hedges or carry out infill planting where hedges have large gaps. Hedgelaying or planting is often done with the help of our brilliant volunteers during regular work party days.

To maintain the benefits from hedgelaying you need to repeat the process roughly every 15 years. Just remember, you need long growth to lay a hedge: this means you can trim the hedge to shape for, at most, the first five years after laying, but then need to let it grow into small trees if you want to lay it again.

Hedgelaying can be used to restore almost any length of hedge. In my case I have a long way to go before I’m finished - but I know I’ll enjoy the whole process.

Robert Cooke, Conservation Strategy Intern