National Hedgerow Week 2024

on

I'm looking forward to reading the new book: 'Hedgelands'.

We are now in National Hedgerow Week as it stands.

The article in The Big Issue is important to catch up with. Why not buy your own copy of the latest issue. 

I try to pick one up from vendors in Ely or Norwich.


There's a great opening to that piece which sums up why hedgerows are important.

The traditional British hedge is the greatest edge habitat on earth. It is a green food bank, a windbreak, a stock fence, a flood defence system, an immense storage unit for excess carbon dioxide and an incomparable haven for wildlife. According to the RSPB, “hedges may support up to 80% of our woodland birds, 50% of our mammals and 30% of our butterflies”.

A hedge provides singing posts for birds, a crucial navigational aid for bats, and a cross-country route for any number of small mammals, safely hidden from predators. Hedgerow shrubs and trees, bathed in sunshine, will also produce far more fruit that in a woodland. You won’t find many juicy blackberries in the heart of a dark oak forest, no matter how many brambles might be trying to grow there. The most generous kind of hedge should include shrubs, trees and bushes, coppiced and/or cut and laid, forming a row.

I feel very lucky to have access to fields and hedgerows within two minutes walk of my home. They are full of bird life and plants 

Comments

Post a Comment