Renovating the hedge

It's been in the back of my mind that I'd prefer a hawthorn hedge to the mixed cotoneaster and privet I've got at the moment (though there is one small bit of hawthorn right by the gate). I was leaving the other day and thought, "Maybe I'll just cut back that bit of privet to give the hawthorn a chance to expand into the gap so I get a bit more hawthorn in the hedge."

I began hacking away at it and it turns out that under all the other hedge plants, there were quite a few hawthorns. I kept going and uncovered an 80% hawthorn hedge.

There's one privet plant left at the far right, with no hawthorn to replace it, so I'm on the lookout for a replacement hawthorn for that wee section. When I was done, there was a lot of debris, which just replaced what I'd burnt the other day. Here's half of what I cut away.