Great news for our planned hedge improvements at Long Meadow
Histon & Impington Green Spaces has received an award from Postcode Places Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery . Over the next 18 months we will be using these funds to implement improvements at Long Meadow aimed at preserving heritage elements while boosting the opportunities for encouraging more wildlife to use the site.
Our ideas for this fall into five groups:
A full restoration of the Park Lane hedge and the addition of extra rows of hedge plants to produce a dense thick hedge offering better habitat for hedgerow species.
Whilst retaining existing access through the Park Lane hedge, including established routes opposite St Audrey’s Close and Pease Way, ensure in one location there is step-free access from the pavement.
Continuing our efforts to improve the richness of the wildflower meadow including spring and autumn mowing.
Signage, under the motto “informative and discreet”, moving from using unsightly laminated signs. The permanent signage might include an information display board.
We will use some of the awarded funds to support a number of learning opportunities; for example, our April Nature Trail at Long Meadow for children and guided sessions on the flora of the meadow for adults.
So what are the plans for the hedge?
In the Local Plan the Park Lane hedge is recognised as an “important countryside frontage” along with the avenue of majestic horse chestnut trees behind (more about the avenue here ). Some parts of the hedge are deteriorating and have been allowed to grow up several metres above the original hedge height. The situation will not improve without management action.
We plan first to cut the top of the hedge back to 2 metres above the ground level of the adjacent pavement (about 2.5 metres above the level in the field). This will be repeated at about three year intervals; with the hedge at a manageable height, we will be able to do this without needing to pay for contractors. The next step will be to infill where the hedge has thinned, with temporary fencing to maintain the boundary. The final stage (not yet fully funded) will see us plant new lines of whips on the field side. In time we hope to have a really thick hedge which will be much better for wildlife compared to the present situation.
The 18 month duration of the award allows us to further develop our ideas and to do things at the “right time of the year” to minimise disturbance to wildlife and be flexible when our plans are blown off course by the weather.
We will be cutting the Park Lane hedge later this month; our last opportunity before the breeding season gets into full swing and any migrant birds arrive. Gap filling will be undertaken in the late autumn/early winter. We plan to plant a mix of species based on the composition of the hedge at present. We hope to have a lot of volunteer assistance with the planting.
If we are in a position to do the new rows to thicken the hedge in the winter 2023/24 we will do so, but it might take us until the following winter to complete the full restoration that we have planned.
