There is 1.36 km or 0.7 ha of Hedgerow classified as WL1 Linear Woodland Scrub1 in Rathcoole Woodlands. This is made up of a mixed hedge along the south and west boundary (Photos 1-2) and a predominantly hawthorn hedgerow along the stream banks (Photo 5)2. There is a conservative estimate of 2,263 trees including Hazel (Corylus avellana) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) in the hedgerows. Some hazels are 2 m in girth (Photo 2).
Rathcoole Woodlands is bounded on the south and west by 0.95 km of mixed mature hedgerow with an area of 0.47 ha (McDiarmada 2020, unpublished). The southern hedgerow is a 10-12cm regenerating hazel hedge marking the boundary between the parishes of Rathcoole and Saggart. It contains mature hazel trees of 2 m girth (Photo 1). There is also a 0.4 km hedgerow covering an area of 0.21 ha alongside the stream that runs west to east dividing the Woodland (Photograph 5). This hedgerow is predominantly of hawthorn. The western hedgerow also marks one edge of a 170 year old boreen or narrow road which is evident in the first edition 6 inch maps of 1843. There is also an unsurveyed blackthorn/hawthorn mixed hedgerow marking the old mill path from Rathcoole to Saggart mills (Photos 7-8). This mill path is evident in the 1912 3rd edition 6 inch maps.
1.Hazel hedge on the southern boundary – 5th Jan 2017 
2.Hazel hedge on the southern boundary – 16th February 2020 
3.Hedgerow on the west bank – 9th June 2019 (1) 
4.Hedgerow on the west bank – 9th June 2019 (2) 
5.Stream hedgerow – 11th April 2020 
6.Hedgerow on the eastern boundary – 9th March 2019 
7.Blackthorn/Hawthorn hedgerow on the eastern boundary marking the old mill path – 6th May 2016 
8.Blackthorn/Hawthorn hedgerow on the eastern boundary marking the old mill path – May 2019
1 https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/A%20Guide%20to%20Habitats%20in%20Ireland%20-%20Fossitt.pdf
2 Ronan Mac Diarmada & Associates (2020, unpublished) Rathcoole Woodland – Review of Existing Woodland. 11pp