How many different reasons there are to enjoy a hedge. Whether it’s to drink in its shade on a summer’s walk, comb its foliage for sloes or damsons in autumn, or – my own favourite – watch a horse browsing for rosehips, young hawthorn, cow parsley or hazel, a hedgerow brings pleasure in abundance.
While we all have our own idea of ‘the perfect hedge’, that picture will be coloured by what you want it for: to obscure a neighbour’s trampoline; keep cattle in your fields; attract songbirds; or, simply, as in my case, to go flying over in hot pursuit of hounds.
Most of us know the value of hedgerows to wildlife and the environment, acting as corridors, larders and weather shields for species ranging from hedgehogs to dormice and cattle to bats. Less well known, perhaps, is their value in preventing soil erosion, improving pollination or helping with pest control, reducing the need for pesticides.
Since ripping hedgerows out to make way for prairie-like arable fields was long ago outlawed, the issue for hedgerows more recently has been lack of maintenance. “Hedges love being managed in rotation – being regularly trimmed and coppiced, and laid once every 40 years or so,” explains Megan Gimber of the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES).
But management can end up being neglected or overzealous – for example, hacking back too aggressively each year with a flail – not least because it’s labour intensive and pricey. The result can be hedges that become “thin and leggy, shading out the base”, explains Gimber.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2021-Ausgabe von The Field.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2021-Ausgabe von The Field.
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
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