As part of The Tree Council’s Life on the Hedge programme, several Tree Wardens Networks across the country were given the opportunity to help us shape the development of a series of new online learning materials focussed on hedgerows, which we hope to share for the benefit all our Tree Wardens in the year ahead. As part of the project, they also had the opportunity to attend practical hedgelaying courses near them, led by professional hedgelayers.
Chris Stendall, London Borough of Sutton Tree Warden, was delighted to be offered the opportunity through his local Network Coordinator, and shares his experience of attending the programme of online and practical sessions.
“The online training itself was excellent, with a series of talks by knowledgeable Tree Council personnel and a range of expert guest speakers. I learned a huge amount about the history of hedges, their range and benefits, how we are again trying to increase the national coverage of these superb wildlife habitats, and how to manage them once established.”
The culmination of the programme was to attend two days of practical training in hedgelaying. This was run by Paul Matthews, an expert hedgelayer, who was very engaging and an excellent tutor. Paul taught us how to split – or cleave – chestnut wood logs for making stakes, how to find, select and prepare coppiced hazel stems for the hedge “binds”, and then – on day two – how to clear and lay down a section of (mainly hawthorn, with a few other species) hedgerow and finish it using the stakes and binds we had prepared on day one.
Both days were hugely enjoyable, with good company (there were 6 of us trainees and Paul had lots of stories and good advice) and interesting locations; the weather was dry and sunny; and the task of creating the hedge was both challenging and great fun. The finished product was – to my eyes at least – quite impressive, and we all felt a lot of satisfaction from having achieved such a lot.
Thank you to The Tree Council and to Paul and his team: I can thoroughly recommend the experience, and look forward to putting my learning into practice again.”
