Ten Best Wildlife Friendly Hedging Plants
Nearly all native hedging plants are wildlife friendly and particularly bird friendly so rather than list nearly everything in our range in this section which we think is unhelpful for those trying to shortlist, we’ve chosen to list our top ten wildlife friendly/bird friendly hedging plants – these are the ones that immediately spring into our minds when someone asks for a wildlife friendly hedge or a hedge that will be particularly good for attracting garden birds.
All of these species have profuse flowering or catkins and then profuse wildlife-friendly fruits of one type or another - berries, haws, hips, sloes, nuts or cones. Wherever there are insects attracted by nectar and pollen, birds and other mammals will appear. Bear in mind also that it's not just flowers that attract insects - the leaves are the food stuff of many caterpillars that in turn provide protein-rich food for baby birds. Wildlife friendly hedges also provide nesting sites and shelter for birds and small mammals like hedgehogs and dense hedges filter the wind which benefits all young and not-so-young wildlife.
Each of these species is extremely good for wildlife but to get the best possible wildlife value from hedging, you should plant multiple species so that the flowering time is extended from early spring to late spring and so that there's a choice of fruits for small mammals and birds. We have a Mixed Native Wildlife Friendly hedging pack of 6 different plant species carefully selected for their wildlife value, or you can select your own mixture from our full range of wildlife friendly hedging species here.
Our website automatically discounts on higher value orders, but if your order value is coming to over £1000, please contact us for a bespoke quote.
