This is supported by a recently created map of the area’s historical features, which is the most thorough to date.
The research, according to ecologists, should result in improved safeguards for the beloved stands of trees and bushes that store vast amounts of carbon and give animals food and refuge.
Aerial laser scanning indicates that there are 390,000 km of hedges.
With the most hedgerows, the South West (mostly Cornwall) leads the way.
With large cities excluded, the counties with the least are Surrey, Hampshire, and Berkshire.
Dr. Richard Broughton of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, who oversaw the project, stated, “We’re very lucky to have this huge resource. We probably have more hedgerows in England than anywhere else in the world.”
“As a national policy, we’re trying to expand hedgerows in this country, and this will tell us where there are gaps in the hedgerow network that we could fill in.”
