An exciting new £115,000 project is underway to create six new orchards and more than two miles of hedgerow to improve biodiversity, soil quality, flood risk, and climate change resilience.

The Suffolk &Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape, formerly known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, has awarded £115,865 to the East Suffolk Farmer Group through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, funded by Defra.

This large-scale project to create wildlife habitats covers 10 farms over 5,300 hectares on the Shotley, Felixstowe and Orford peninsulas.

New hedging (Picture: National Landscapes)

The six new orchards will follow on from the 16 planted previously through the same programme, which are now flourishing and in blossom. Funding also covered the installation of deer fencing to protect the young trees as they grow. 

In the orchards, the grass between the trees will only be cut annually to allow natural regeneration of wildflower and will support many species as it matures. 

Members of the East Suffolk Farmer Group are working collaboratively to establish 3827m of new hedgerows to help strengthen wildlife corridors in the National Landscape. This will link habitats and connect farms to support wildlife on a landscape scale.

The long new hedge stretches inland from the river Orwell to connect with a wood and hedgerows along the way.

The hedgerows are planted with a range of native trees and are strategically positioned to connect with existing habitats and to complement the landscape.

Both the new orchards and the hedgerows will provide shelter for wildlife and allow animals to move freely, as well as capturing carbon. Reducing runoff of rainfall will improve the quality of the soil, as will the change in land use.

The Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape stretches south along the coast from Kessingland in North Suffolk, down to the Stour Estuary at Wrabness in North Essex. The area is designated as a National Landscape because of its national importance for natural beauty and wildlife. Find out more at coastandheaths-NL.org.uk.