It was a type of day where you look out of your window and are content in pottering around the house, whilst the continuous rain and wind was tapping at the window. However, this was not the case for Surrey Wildlife Trust’s Central Team, and their brilliant volunteers.  

The volunteering project

Meeting at Shere Car Park, the three team leaders gathered their twelve volunteers, all of whom were layered up with coats and base layers, with waterproofs from head to toe, ready for work to be done in conserving and creating new wildlife links in the countryside. We walked to the field where we were continuing the 200m planting of hedge saplings in order to form a new hedgerow across a cattle field to connect two habitats, sectioned by maintained field. This would create a wilderness corridor which promotes and accumulated a multi-biodiverse ecosystem as well as a divider for the National Trust’s land (pre-organised with Surrey Wildlife Trust). We were to plant saplings, which would later, not completed by the volunteers, be fenced parallel to the hedge until it is secure in its shape and volume.

Beginning my volunteer journey

This was my first time volunteering in the outdoors with Surrey Wildlife Trust, and to say that I was very eager is an understatement. I love the practical work of doing things that will directly help nature, a factor that was agreed with greatly amongst the volunteers.

Many of the volunteers there were regular attendees, supporting the productivity of Surrey Wildlife Trust’s practical work. I quickly realised how crucial it is for the Trust that volunteers are happy to join and help, as it makes the work quicker and more enjoyable for everyone involved, and creates a positive community.

I asked a few volunteers about how they started volunteering for Surrey Wildlife Trust, and how they found out about the specific locations and timings of the volunteer work. The reply was an obvious “Simple! You sign up and receive an email on Thursdays via the volunteer email after signing up. We then see our availability and reply ‘yes’, and then ask the regulars (the other volunteers that often helped out) to see which of us will keep each other company”. (This is your sign to sign up to the Surrey Wildlife Trust’s volunteer list!)

The volunteers I met were and are a group of truly lovely people. All of them positive, despite the rain, and very practical people on the basis that they knew what exactly they were doing. Both the volunteers and the Trust’s leaders made the experience feel very welcoming, and even more enjoyable as we are all there for the same purpose and have a love for nature.

The technicalities of hedge planting

When arriving upon site, two thirds of the hedge planting was already complete, proudly stated by one of the team leaders that the previous week, with a group of 20 volunteers they had planted around 120 meters of saplings in one session (between 10am and 3pm). The only remaining work was to be done up a small hill, continuing the line of the sapling hedge.

This may sound simple, when put in practical terms as it is not too complicated, but it is at this point I would like you to consider the mud. A lot of mud. Although the conditions meant that the ground was a perfect softness for planting (despite the chalk ground, underneath the 30cm of mud), meant that the ground was moist so that water could immediately be supplied to the plant. The abundance of mud also meant that we were completely covered it after standing, squatting, digging, kneeling and planting. The task even started before the work of the planting, by walking across the field to the hedgerow: wheelbarrows sinking in the cattle trodden muddy grass, as well as lugging approximately 900 small saplings up the field to the site of work. All good strength work!

The process was very systematic: a line was rolled out to direct the route that we were going to plant on. A bamboo stick was placed every metre along this line, and someone followed, drawing six spots (using biodegradable spray paint) within each metre stretch (three on either side of the line), as a determiner of where each plant was to be placed. Six bamboo sticks and six (compostable) plastic tube covers were placed on each of the metre stretches up along the field. Then we set to work!

The Trusts’ newly purchased planting spades, a wedge with one flat edge and one triangular edge connected to the end of a handle, was huge advantage in this session. We plunged the planting spade onto the sprayed spots on the ground, deep enough so that a root could fit into it, creating the sapling hole! We did this six times each metre, using the spots on the ground. We then fed one sapling root into each hole in the soil, opened by the dibble, ensuring all of the root was covered (one indication we used to check this was to see where the stalk changes colour up the sapling). Per metre, the six hedge saplings planted was a mixture of three hawthorn hedges: a very resistant prickly bush which, when grown, attracts a diverse number of species; and also a mix of native hedge plants, so that the hedge would include a variety of characteristics when fully grown so that the hedge catered for many of the requirements of the future inhabitants in the hedgerow.

We sealed the positioning of the saplings by trampling down the mud around the root, or rather using the coned edge of the dibble to compress the soil around the root, as a lever to close the gap in the soil. Here it was important for us to make sure that the whole wedge of the soil had closed before moving onto the next sapling because if it was left open, it would mean that water would have direct access to the root, and could potentially drown the plant, particularly in the rain that we experienced. If the soil was left open it would mean that in future the hedges would be needed to be redone, taking time away from other conservation projects, all by an obvious mistake. The bamboo stick was then placed adjacent to the sapling as a support for the plastic tube that protected the sapling by covering it, acting as a protective barrier so mammals such as deer cannot reach the growing sapling and eat it. The tube was pushed slightly into the soil so mice and smaller mammals would also not be able to reach the plant, and potentially nibble the sapling. Then the hedge was complete! Move onto the next metre of the hedge

A rewarding experience

It was a small productive line of volunteers giving back to nature. When asking volunteers why they become involved in volunteering at Surrey Wildlife Trust, the main answer was that they enjoyed their time in the outside and being part in helping give back to nature as well as enjoying what they did when they helped out.

It is gratifying to know that we have helped nature to grow and maintain as best as we can. It was also definitely confirmed that everyone felt rewarded when looking over their work in the field, and it was good to see an obvious progress of the saplings that speared out to the soil in the field. It makes that cup of tea taste all the better when arriving home in the warmth!

I loved the whole experience of the hedge planting! The involvement, the outside activity and the community that was a key part in the hedge. It is a positive force for the future of nature.

Where there was once originally an open stretch of a field, Surrey Wildlife Trust and their volunteer team has now ensured that there is a potential of a wildlife highway: a chance to connect habitats between the hedgerow by the bottom of the field and the woodlands at the top at this location. Within the UK, there are around 95,000 miles of hedgerows; it is organisations such as Surrey Wildlife Trust that maintain and conserve that the vital hedgerows that maintain biodiversity in our ecosystem remain standing and growing.

For that, thank you so much Surrey Wildlife Trust, and the team that makes production possible, the volunteers!