#17: Hedging their bets

More news of mistakes by government recently, this time referring to hedgerow planting as part of the new plans for supporting wildlife in the countryside. 

Hedgerows are an important habitat for a wide range of species, and are really important for biodiversity. Some are hundreds of years old - those in Devon which are an important feature of the landscape are over 800 years old.

There was apparently a typo in the document that was previously published...

CPRE is 'the Countryside Charity' and has a particular focus on hedgerows.

Their hedgerows campaign is calling for #40by50. 

But what does this mean?

From the CPRE website:

The government loves talking about tree planting and peatland restoration, but it seems to have forgotten our hedgerows. 

We’re campaigning for them to commit to a target for planting and restoring thousands of miles of hedgerows across the country.

'We need a 40% increase by 2050 at the latest.'

40: We want to see the hedgerow network increase by 40%. This number was recommended by the independent Climate Change Committee and is equivalent to about 120,000 miles in Britain – half way to the moon!

50: This is the time frame. We need a 40% increase by 2050 at the latest. This requires adding over 4,000 miles of new and restored hedgerows per year, starting now.

For those in need of a definition of hedges, here's a useful one:

A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties.

Top image: Alan Parkinson - shared under CC license - a hedge in Norfolk - love your local hedges...