Restoring hedgerows, reviving landscapes

Hear from Jane Reeve as she shares her hands-on experience revitalising hedgerows across the Manhood Peninsula near Chichester, Sussex. From surveying and identifying issues to delivering new planting and habitat improvements, Jane’s work shows how practical local action can deliver big wins for wildlife, connectivity and countryside character.

Jane has an ecology, wildlife and habitat management background and has been involved in endangered mammal conservation projects overseas. After lecturing at Portsmouth University for 5 years she has spent the last 15 years working for a small volunteer led wildlife charity on the Manhood Peninsula (the Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Group), south of Chichester, delivering a range of projects including: water vole conservation and habitat creation; wetland recovery; natural flood management and drainage improvement; and parish biodiversity improvement. With volunteers, she has planted approximately 25,000 trees across the area and enjoys working closely with farmers, parishes and landowners to deliver better habitat options for a wide range of species. Jane understands the strong link between the health of the hedges and the waterways that criss-cross the peninsula and works to close gaps and replant missing hedges. Jane is never happier than when she is in her wellies getting muddy with volunteers in a ditch or planting trees. Her favourite summer work activity is wildflower surveying and moth trapping.

This talk is part of a series of hedgerow talks this winter hosted by CPRE as part of the Hedgerow Heroes campaign. 13 CPRE branches across the country are running Hedgerow Heroes projects, working to increase and improve the hedgerow networks across England. This talk has been organised by CPRE Hampshire