Horses For Courses - Birds For Hedges !

[Canary42]

When I moved into my present house there was an enormous line of Leylandii along one boundary.

After several years, one of my neighbours expressed concern about them so I had them cut down, and I planted a mixed holly/beech hedge.

This is now fully mature and one striking difference is the varied amount of bird life in occupancy, something which never seemed to happen with the leylandii.

Do most birds shun the leylandii types ?

[Palustris]

To a certain extent, yes as they are often too dense for the birds to make a nesting space. Also of course there is nothing in them to eat. The only thing we found in the hedge we are in the process of removing are the remains of wasps nests.

[Chipchopper]

I have found that both leylandii and holly provide good cover for birds.
One thing I did notice with leylandii is that they seem to attract the gold crests in particular.
The holly seems to be favored by black birds, thrushes and robins.
When I sit by my leylandii conifer hedge I hear a lot of twittering going on but rarely see the birds, as they are so well hidden.

[jakep]

We inherited a Leylandii hedge across the bottom of the garden.
The birds use it a lot, and last year we had a wasp nest too.
Birds nesting in it at the moment are blackbirds, dunnocks, robins and house sparrows. We have it tidied every November and the birds don’t seem to mind.

[douglas9401]

Sparrows and spiders in our Leylandii, blackies and starlings in the holly round t'back.

[Chipchopper]

I would suppose that a mixed hedgerow would attract more bird species than just one type of shrub in the hedgerow, as there is more on offer.
Mixed woodland has a more diverse range of species. I think you could make a comparison between a supermarket and a corner shop.