WILSFORD HEDGEROWS AND VERGES

Thank you to the Wilsford residents who help and support our Hedgerow and Verge initiatives to plant, maintain and protect.

The 2020 award for the Conservation Project of the Year followed a 2015 Wilsford Village community initiative to plant hedgerows along its two access roads from the A342.  The exercise expanded and extended through subsequent years until by early 2020, the combined efforts of volunteers and landowners had planted some 7,500 metres of mixed hedgerow and trees around the village, linking it by wildlife corridors to neighbouring parishes.

The movement was expanded by a 2021 initiative to encourage a wider ecological approach with less blanket mowing of verges and the promotion of wildflowers.

The two initiatives flourish with the participation of residents and landowners and with the support of the Woodland Trust, Wiltshire Council, CPRE and North Wessex Downs AONB.