We want to see excellent hedgerows. The more lush, life-filled and looked-after the better. Ones thriving and thrumming with life.
Chris Packham’ s Hedgerow of the Year
It doesn’t have to be yours – in fact, it’s even better if you’re showing off someone else’s – it just has to be an excellent hedgerow! Wherever you are, if you spy a superb specimen of a hedgerow, snap a photo, and nominate it for our awards.
Likewise, we want to show how NOT to look after a hedgerow. As well as hedgerow of the year, we’ll be naming hedgeWRECK of the year in our hall of hedge shame. So if you spot a straggly hedgerow, one that’s been flailed to bits, covered in netting or simply is fading away – let us know.
We’re running a competition for an entire year, through the seasons. The photographer of the BEST HEDGE of 2022-23 will win up to 500 metres of native British hedgerow from Best4 Hedging.
Sarah Barnsley is the Hedgerow Officer for the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. She is a huge hedgerow enthusiast, working to promote these humble countryside heroes.
Henry Edmunds is the owner of the Cholderton Estate in Wiltshire. A Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, Henry is a passionate naturalist and wildlife lover. His interest in nature has guided his management of Cholderton for the past 35 years.
Kabir Kaul is an award-winning conservationist, campaigning for London’s wildlife through writing, broadcasting, public speaking and social media. He was appointed to the Mayor of London’s Rewilding Taskforce in 2022.
George Hassall is 17 and lives on the East Manchester side of The Pennines, where he first discovered his love of nature by taking walks along the canal with his Dad, spotting herons and kingfishers if he was lucky! He’s been the RHS Young Ambassador since the age of 10 and more recently the British Dragonfly Youth Ambassador, bringing together his love of gardening and wildlife.
Sara Lom is CEO of The Tree Council, the national charity that brings everyone together for the love of hedgerows, as well as trees. Her favourite hedgerows rustle and sing through day and night.
Leif Bersweden is a botanist with a face-down, bottom-up approach to watching nature. He is the author of The Orchid Hunter and Where the Wildflowers Grow.
Lucy Lapwing is a self-described nature nerd, naturalist and lover of all things wild. Working in conservation, she’s passionate about spreading the love for our underappreciated wildlife.
The winning Hedgerow and Hedgewreck of 2022-23 will win their very own Native British hedgerow from a UK Supplier.
Up to 500 metres of native, British Hedgerow including a mix of species like hawthorn, blackthorn and native trees.