Planting scrub hedges and copses
Scrub hedges and copses help to capture rainwater and allow it to infiltrate the soil. In fact, they are miniature forests. Traditionally, the hilly countryside has been rich in hedges, scrub hedges and small copses. These are known as small landscape features or ‘bocages’. Many of these have been lost due to the increase in scale in agriculture. The return of these features to the agricultural landscape, particularly if they are planted in a robust form, helps to slow down water and reduce flood peaks. They are particularly functional on slopes, but also in the valley.
Natural solutions
- Developing natural grasslands
- Developing natural forests
- Food forest
- Making space for beaver activity
- Making room for natural floodplains
- Making room for meandering
- Raising the stream bed
- Lowering banks
- Removing drainage systems
- Planting scrub hedges and copses
- Standard orchard
- Wide infiltration strip
- Grafts
- Swales
- Keylines
- Converting (maize) fields on slopes into grassland or woodland
- Wadi
- Intercepting runoff on (sunken) roads