Restoration in Practice: Dead Hedges at Inversnaid

One of the things I have really enjoyed about restoring Inversnaid is discovering that there is never just one way of doing things.

We have volunteers coming to us from all over the world through the WWOOF network, bringing their own skills, experience and ideas. Sometimes those ideas are small, sometimes they completely change the way we approach a problem.

Our dead hedges are a good example.

The process was first started at Inversnaid by Simon, a volunteer from Montreal with a horticultural background. Looking at the volume of brash being generated through our restoration work, he suggested that rather than seeing it as something to remove, we should think about how we could put it back to work.

That simple idea has developed considerably.

Repurposing what is already here

The restoration work generates a significant amount of woody material, particularly as we remove rhododendron, azalea and remaining non-native trees. Chipping is one option, but with the volume involved, keeping the material on site and finding productive uses for it made much more sense.

There are now dead hedges in different forms and locations across the property. Some define paths and boundaries. Others sit across steep ground, where they can help slow water movement, retain soil and organic material and reduce erosion. We have also woven structures into cleared areas, creating physical structure within the landscape and opportunities for plants such as honeysuckle to establish.

They are not appropriate everywhere, but where the conditions are right they offer a useful way of dealing with material already generated by the restoration process.

Supporting natural regeneration

For me, one of the most interesting applications has been within areas of native woodland where we have been clearing rhododendron and azalea.

The wider objective is clear: to restore native oak woodland and the habitats associated with it. Much of that work involves addressing the legacy of historic planting and invasive species that have altered the structure and composition of the woodland over time.

In areas cleared in spring 2025, we have seen a significant proliferation of naturally regenerated oak seedlings during 2026. The mature oaks were already producing acorns and removing the dense rhododendron cover and more importantly their associated leaf matter, has allowed that natural process to succeed.

The dead hedges may also have contributed to that response. Through autumn 2025, they caught falling oak leaves, seed and other organic material, creating pockets of leaf litter and moisture across the cleared ground. It is encouraging to see the woodland responding so quickly and it reinforces our preference for allowing natural regeneration to do the work, wherever the conditions allow.

Learning from the landscape

The dead hedges have developed organically as we have worked across the estate. Some follow the natural contours of the ground, others define paths or boundaries, while some have been woven into cleared areas to provide structure as vegetation returns.

The form is largely dictated by the site and what we are trying to achieve there. It is an approach that has evolved through doing the work rather than following a fixed model.

Restoration by reuse

There is something satisfying about taking material generated by one part of the restoration process and using it to support another.

The brash stays on site and, depending on its location, can contribute to structure, erosion control, habitat and natural regeneration while gradually becoming part of the soil and woodland around it.

For us, it is a practical example of having a clear ecological objective while making use of the resources already within the landscape.

Restoration in Practice

This is the first in a series looking at some of the practical restoration techniques we are using at Inversnaid, and how we are adapting them to the landscape and the work we are doing here.

In the next post, I’ll look more closely at using dead hedges on steep ground to influence slope stability, soil erosion and water movement.