Hedgerows

Initiated 2022

Hedgerows play a vital role in biodiversity offering food, shelter, and safety to wildlife whilst also providing useful boundaries.

Johnstown's suburban environment is lucky to have walls that are not all made of brick and concrete. However, these hedgerows have been reduced over the years by housing development.

We aim to first uncover a baseline record of where these are before visiting each to identify the species and state.

Our Program over the coming years is:

Create an initial survey map from aerial photos. ✔️Completed 2022
Identify and update the survey map with hedgerows from historic maps. ✔️Began 2023
Survey on the ground to identify species and general status of the hedgerow. ✔️Began 2023
Liaise with a specialist consultant to review our findings and how to proceed. ✔️Began 2023

Survey Map

Stage 1 observations using Google Maps were completed April 2022. Some of the lines drawn will not actually be hedgerows due to the age of the aerial images.

Stages 2,3 and 4 are developing at the same time. Laurel and Beech hedging is fairly obvious to identify in winter with the tight brown leaves hanging onto beech and the evergreen laurel. It was supprising to see so much monoculture planting of beech within the IDA propoerty.

Initial survey map based on Google Maps review.

Stage 2 will see the addition of lines representing historic hedgerows.

Stage 3 will survey each site on the ground to update the map to reflect the current baseline.