November 2016
48 yards hawthorn hedge, using live stakes, Little Marlow
This was my last stint at Little Marlow where I have been doing a section of this hedge each year since 2013
View from start, before ...
.... and after.
View part-way down looking back to start, before ...
... and during. The ash trees being retained really stand out now.
View from end of section, before ...
... and after. The trees that have been retained are all ash trees.
This was the first time I ever came across mistletoe on hawthorn in a hedge ...
... and within a few feet an second mistletoe on another hawthorn!
Both hawthorn were laid carefully to best preserve the mistletoe.
Hopefully it will work as a regular walker picks some here each year for his wife!
Approaching walkers give an impression of scale. Hedges using live stakes can be very substantial if there is sufficient material, as they are not limited by the need to knock in stakes or bind the top of the hedge.
That pile of firewood is coming home with me!
Two live stakes are visible at the front, another barely visible behind, just to the right of the one on the left. In general they should be as unobtrusive as possible.
Here the base of a substantial live stake is just visible in the centre
74 yards maiden mixed hedge, live stakes, Quarrendon Leas
This is the first of seven sections of hedge I laid for the Buckinghamshire Conservation Trust
This first section was notable for having a lot of field maple which had outgrown everything else in the hedge which is a common problem
View from start, before ...
... during ...
... completed, view in frost and sunshine ...
... regrowth in June 2017
This hedge was contained by the fence behind it and live stakes, most of which were towards the front of the hedge, three being visible here
View looking back towards the start of the hedge
You usually leave stems growing through a wire fence so they continue to support the fence, as here
View looking from start of hedge, newly laid ...
... and June 2017