It’s blackberry time – and your humble hedgerow is saving the planet

The recent sunshine has ripened blackberries in our hedgerows – but they do more for city dwellers than offer a chance to forage!

The humble hedgerow actually locks up vast amounts of carbon dioxide, they’re are easy to slot in around playgrounds, football pitches and paths, help manage flow of water and flooding and offer animals shelter from extreme weather.

Along with child-friendly blackberries, elderberries, hazelnuts and crab apples they help create mouth-watering combination of delicious jams, pies or drinks, (if your precious harvest even makes it home before being eaten!).

But for London families who can’t find a local hedgerow, CPRE London, offers funding to plant 3km of new hedge trees and plants in the capital this autumn. That’s the length of a hedgerow running along The Thames from Tower Bridge to Westminster. You just need to let us know where to plant.

CPRE London director, Anna Taylor, says: “If you’re out and spot some ugly railings that would be better concealed by a hedgerow, or two areas of trees it would be good to link up with a wildlife corridor please do get in touch. If we know of a local friends of green space group working nearby we will pass on your suggestion and make them aware we have funding available to make it happen.

“We are looking for sites to plant hedgerows and want local people to let us know where there are opportunities. In a few summers we hope more people will be able to share the fun of foraging as well as benefiting from the cleaner air and greener surroundings hedgerows naturally provide.”

Simply get in touch on office@cprelondon.org.uk with your suggested site and we’ll start investigating whether we can find a volunteer group to take on the task.  By combining your suggestion with a bit of local volunteer magic – hopefully you’ll soon be able to forage more often for hedgerow fruits.