#303: National Hedgerow Week 2024

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

We are now in National Hedgerow Week as it stands.

Great to see an article on why hedgerows are important in the Big Issue! Don't forget National Hedgerow Week starts next week, get ready! #NHW #NationalHedgerowWeek24 🌳 💚 pic.twitter.com/MCleiuQWY4

— The Tree Council (@TheTreeCouncil) April 29, 2024

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.

It's #NationalHedgerowWeek!
Tell us @Hedgelink_UK how you'll be celebrating hedgerows this week! Share your favourite hedge photos with #myfavehedge and spread the word just how great hedges are! pic.twitter.com/m9IwZ1dxPk

— Hedgelink (@Hedgelink_UK) May 6, 2024

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 

#249: 'Hedgelands' - coming April

This sounds like it is going to be an excellent addition to a growing library of recommendations. It is a new book by Christopher Hart.

As I've been creating this blog, I have come across numerous references to the value of hedgerows, particularly old ones with a large variety of species. They act as habitats, windbreaks, borders and management tools, as well as reducing wind speeds.

In this joyous journey around the wild edges of Britain, Christopher Hart takes us through the life, ecology and history of the humble British hedge, showing us how this much-loved (but somewhat overlooked) feature is inextricably woven into our language, history and culture.

Hedges – or hedgerows – have long been an integral part of the British landscape; a bastion of privacy for our gardens, a protective presence on winding country lanes and a vital hiding place for birds and beasts on farmland.

This man-made marvel is finally getting its time in the sun. Recognised as an environmental hero and a powerful climate ally, hedgerow is now considered the greatest edge habitat on earth, offering thorny scrub, mature woodland, grassland and even wetland. It plays a critical role in carbon sequestration and provides essential protection against the elements.

Hedgelands highlights the hawthorn and hazel of ancient hedges; the abundance of wildlife, from the elusive dunnock to the striking nightingale, the industrious hedgehog to the little harvest mouse; and the free pickings that the hedgerow offers, making it an essential – and delicious – element of any countryside ramble.

Hedgelands will tell you everything you never thought you needed to know about this wild, diverse and rich habitat – and you might even look at your humble hedge in a whole new way.