Douglas Avenue, Carmyle
Saving a historic hedgerow

Introduction

In July 2002 a resident of Douglas Avenue contacted the project asking for assistance with the landscaping of the local area. The landscaping was to complete work residents had started with re-surfacing of their access road. The group had funded and undertaken the road-building project themselves, but needed advice and financial support to improve the neglected hedgerow that runs along side the new road.

The Hawthorn hedgerow is approximately 120m long with a number of Ash and Sycamore trees along its length. Historically, this hedge and trees would have formed a field boundary and are believed to be over 100 years old.

1st step

A meeting with the residents and project staff was organised to discuss the issues relating to the hedgerow and a design and plan were developed.

The project is willing to support the residents both financially and with project staff time because:

the new road acts as a main pedestrian thoroughfare linking a local school to the rest of Carmyle; and
hedgerows are seriously in decline and are a vulnerable habitat across Scotland.

The project

The scheme proposed for the area fits into the projects themes: Going Places; and Nature's Places and is being implemented by the residents providing their labour over several weekends.

The work has involved:

Sowing a wildflower meadow at the
base of the hedge2;

Fencing and planting up the gaps in the hedge with Hawthorn and Honeysuckle;

and finally, planting Ash trees to replace those that have recently been blown over

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