NEWS FROM SOMER VALLEY REDISCOVERED

HEDGE LAYING IN RIVERSIDE STADDLESTONES PARK

Somer Valley Rediscovered has been working with CPRE Bristol & Avon to train their Habitat Management Volunteers in Hedge Laying.

Hedge laying is an ancient craft, yet essential to modernday hedgerow maintenance.

We have lost half of all our hedgerows in the last 70 years, over 500,000km of hedgerow (enough to go beyond the moon). Now, of the half we do have left, half are in unfavourable condition due to lack of or poor management.

With 72% of the UK as farmland, hedgerows are the lifeline to so much of our native wildlife. Hedgerows are also incredibly important for people, farmers, climate change, and the environment.

We had 9 volunteers trained in Hedge Laying, including two of Bath & North East Somerset Council's Parks Team who are based in Radstock and will maintain the hedgerows in this park.

If you are interested in volunteering with Somer Valley Rediscovered and learning more about our project, please email us at somervalleyrediscovered@bathnes.gov.uk or call 01225 477 731.

This training was funded by and part of the Somer Valley Rediscovered project, a strategic green infrastructure project led by Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) Council, Wessex Water, B&NES Public Health and Natural England, funded from the West of England Combined Authority Green Recovery Fund.