What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge(knowablemagazine.org)
knowablemagazine.org
What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge
https://knowablemagazine.org/article/food-environment/2021/what-world-can-learn-britains-humble-hedge
81 comments
For those who are confused, “woods porn” is apparently a thing.
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_inexplicably_ubiquit...
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_inexplicably_ubiquit...
Of course it's a thing... Where else did you guys find porn before you got modems?
Billy's dad's garage stash.
Wow that went off on a tangent
Don't be alarmed, now.
It’s a thing. For some reason, country folk like to stash thier porn mags in hedges.
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Probably a reference only the British would get. Look up 'hedge porn'.
One of my earliest memories was on a road trip to the Devon with my parents. The family got out of the car and went up to a hedge to try and pet a cow, and there were porno magazines propped up along the hedge as far as the eye could see.
Gifts for the fair folk
> Also, if other countries don’t have hedges, what happens to the grotty pornography magazines that dwell natively in the hedgerows? Are they in some sort of meta-state of quasi-existence? A theoretical hedgerow porn mag?
In other countries porn mags tend to nest in the woods. In japan i understand the endemic porn mags generally live under bridges, more rarely in small bushes.
In other countries porn mags tend to nest in the woods. In japan i understand the endemic porn mags generally live under bridges, more rarely in small bushes.
Come to Switzerland, then. We have nice hedges, excellent beer, and... Right, did I mention the nice hedges? :)
mountains.. glorious mountains and lakes
I live in Australia, which doesn't have hedgerows but does have large areas of native forest, normally called the bush. The bush (at least used to) contain unusually large amounts of pornographic magazines
I really am having a hard time understanding this comment
In days of old, there was porn in the woods.
It is known.
https://www.google.com/search?q=there+is+porn+in+the+woods&i...
It is known.
https://www.google.com/search?q=there+is+porn+in+the+woods&i...
In the US they are mailed to members of Congress.
Different regions of Britain have different styles of hedging and walling. For example "Devonshiring" is quite a distinctive mud bank with very dense hedging made up of a huge number of species. There will be a narrow or very narrow road running with hedges either side at around six to 12 foot high. My uncle's farm near Dartmouth (Devon!) is a good five miles through a lane that often brushes your wing mirrors on both sides simultaneously. Passing places are sporadic but usually less than 500 yards apart - often gate entrances.
On moorland, dry stone walling is the usual delimiter, see Bodmin (Cornwall), Dartmoor Exmoor, and heading up north - The Peaks in Derbyshire(ish), the Yorkshire Moors, etc and most of Cumbria and Northumberland.
One of the odd regions out is the New Forest (laid out about 1000 years back for King William I) This region famously isn't enclosed and is also mostly no longer forest too.
I've only covered England but Wales, Scotland and Ireland have their own varieties of land demarcation, mostly involving hedges of some sort unless moorland in which case stone is generally indicated in exposed areas but all are largely familiar to each other.
The article goes on about maintenance. Farmers fit a a device called a flail to the back of their tractors and trim the hedgerows after birds have fledged. They trundle along at around a slow walking pace. It can get a bit dicey driving in a lane in mid to late spring time because the overgrown hedges block your oncoming view.
On moorland, dry stone walling is the usual delimiter, see Bodmin (Cornwall), Dartmoor Exmoor, and heading up north - The Peaks in Derbyshire(ish), the Yorkshire Moors, etc and most of Cumbria and Northumberland.
One of the odd regions out is the New Forest (laid out about 1000 years back for King William I) This region famously isn't enclosed and is also mostly no longer forest too.
I've only covered England but Wales, Scotland and Ireland have their own varieties of land demarcation, mostly involving hedges of some sort unless moorland in which case stone is generally indicated in exposed areas but all are largely familiar to each other.
The article goes on about maintenance. Farmers fit a a device called a flail to the back of their tractors and trim the hedgerows after birds have fledged. They trundle along at around a slow walking pace. It can get a bit dicey driving in a lane in mid to late spring time because the overgrown hedges block your oncoming view.
My brain is apparently poisoned, I thought for sure this was about financial hedging, or maybe brexit as a hedge against the rest of Europe, or some other political-economy hot-take garbage.
Anyways, glad it's about plants. Happy Thanksgiving, all!
Anyways, glad it's about plants. Happy Thanksgiving, all!
>Anyways, glad it's about plants.
confused me, what with there being nothing about foreign agents being used to manipulate the media, but then I realized it was about vegetative matter. :)
confused me, what with there being nothing about foreign agents being used to manipulate the media, but then I realized it was about vegetative matter. :)
> then I realized it was about vegetative matter
Manipulating vegetative matter into homogeneous shapes. Not entirely dissimilar then?
On topic... While we still have a lot, we have also lost a lot of our hedgerows to commercial farming practices. So Britain aren't exactly great examples either. These are supposedly insect habitats - insects which have all but vanished in recent years which will no doubt have a large ecological impact.
Manipulating vegetative matter into homogeneous shapes. Not entirely dissimilar then?
On topic... While we still have a lot, we have also lost a lot of our hedgerows to commercial farming practices. So Britain aren't exactly great examples either. These are supposedly insect habitats - insects which have all but vanished in recent years which will no doubt have a large ecological impact.
Same. Was quietly excited about some subtle-but-numerate upside of the Brexit long arc that, err, I hadn't seen yet, but no we're talking about the bits between fields (which are great I guess).
I thought at first this was about hedge in the linguistic sense (which is closest in meaning to "humble" of all the senses of that word)
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Hedging is one word that does not coming to mind when it comes to British government.
"Buy cheap buy twice" as the saying goes.
"Buy cheap buy twice" as the saying goes.
Yeah. I thought Britian bought a lot of BTC to hedge against inflation.
I grew up on a farm in east central Illinois in the 1950s and '60s and remember the hedgerows along the township gravel roads which were on a grid a mile on a side. There were pheasants and quail and I don't remember how many other species of birds; no doubt less than the hedges in Britain, but still considerable. I don't recall when the hedges were removed but I think in that area they were gone by the 1970s. What a loss! And only in one lifetime.
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I hate hedges. Selfishly.
It is great for animals and birds, probably good for farmers, but suck for people.
I live in South England, in Hampshire, in the South Downs, which is full of undulated countryside full of fields with hedges.
It is pretty. But also I never see any of it as the massive overgrown hedges blocks all views. And make it unnecessarily dark. I might as well live in a city or suburbia. Apart from in the winters when the leaves are gone it is bearable.
I have lived in other countries with none to minor fences by paths and roads. And I have also lived further north in England, in the Peak District, which use more stone/rock walls which are not that high. A drive or even better a bike ride is then wonderful. And not dangerous as you can can see when a car comes the other way round a sharp corner.
It is great for animals and birds, probably good for farmers, but suck for people.
I live in South England, in Hampshire, in the South Downs, which is full of undulated countryside full of fields with hedges.
It is pretty. But also I never see any of it as the massive overgrown hedges blocks all views. And make it unnecessarily dark. I might as well live in a city or suburbia. Apart from in the winters when the leaves are gone it is bearable.
I have lived in other countries with none to minor fences by paths and roads. And I have also lived further north in England, in the Peak District, which use more stone/rock walls which are not that high. A drive or even better a bike ride is then wonderful. And not dangerous as you can can see when a car comes the other way round a sharp corner.
When the British colonised India they had an 1,100 mile long hedge to stop salt 'smugglers' (who were really just Indians trying to do their thing while being oppressed)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Hedge-India-Quest-Wonders/dp/...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/colonial-india-british...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Hedge-India-Quest-Wonders/dp/...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/colonial-india-british...
Worth watching the short video embedded in the article to get an idea of what these hegerows look like in practice. The illustration makes them look like standard manicured garden hedges rather than the reality of impenetrable intertwined masses of different species. [edited to fix a typo]
There’s also a concept of dating the age of hedgerow by the diversity and randomness of plant species.
The video did not do a good job convincing me that hedges promote biodiversity. I’ve seen more than a badger, rabbit, fox, and mouse on the streets of Berlin in a single night.
Berlin's a weird city, to be fair. It has vast amounts of green space (like, right in the middle of the city is a disused airfield bigger than Monaco), and practically every street is tree-lined. It's about the only city on earth with urban goshawks, wild boars roam the suburbs (and steal naked sunbathers' laptops), and now the raccoons are moving in...
Hedging (1942)
https://youtu.be/WoprVhpOKIk
One interesting thing is that traditionally English hedges were not trimmed, but woven. It was significantly more labor intensive, but resulted in a much stronger barrier.
I think even more correctly it would be (hedge) laying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoprVhpOKIk (1942)
Just found this by Oliver Rackham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Rackham
“Social Forestry Network”
Hedges and Hedgerows Trees in Britain: A Thousand Years of Agroforestry
https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/950.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Rackham
“Social Forestry Network”
Hedges and Hedgerows Trees in Britain: A Thousand Years of Agroforestry
https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/950.pdf
Two chapters from his book the History of the Countryside.
To frame this in a different way, how would woodland areas (or what the article is calling hedgerows) work before the Enclosure Movement? Would there have been more diversity? A different approach to agriculture?
I find this article a bit odd in it's approach (although supportive of more hedgerow area) and in inquiry of where the concept of hedgerows came from.
I find this article a bit odd in it's approach (although supportive of more hedgerow area) and in inquiry of where the concept of hedgerows came from.
Hedgerows pre-date the enclosure act by centuries, land has always been demarcated. The enclosure act relates to the takeover of common land.
Thanks for clarifying, didn't know that.
Hedgerows were, and are, natural living fencing.
For farmers with livestock 'hedge-laying' is something that needs doing every 50 years or so (if well maintained) to ensure the lower sections are animal proof. Take a look at the British National HedgeLaying Society (NHLS) which holds national championships. Our local farming shows often hold competitions too (a neat way to get some of our hedges done for free!):
https://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/pg/info/styles.aspx
For farmers with livestock 'hedge-laying' is something that needs doing every 50 years or so (if well maintained) to ensure the lower sections are animal proof. Take a look at the British National HedgeLaying Society (NHLS) which holds national championships. Our local farming shows often hold competitions too (a neat way to get some of our hedges done for free!):
https://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/pg/info/styles.aspx
I don't think hedges are really woodland areas? It's only a small line of hedge for many acres of corn or grass or something.
In many areas, the hedges are also connected to smaller "copses" or woods since there are plenty of places where the land wouldn't practically support planting crops. In other more wild places, the hedges are much more hap-hazard and are part of the overall wooded area with a mixture of trees, shrubs and grasses.
Some areas though, where farming conditions are pefect, look much more like the USA Mid-west where all you can see are large areas of crops and border hedges.
Either way, they can still provide valuable protection, nesting and food for insects, birds and small animals.
Some areas though, where farming conditions are pefect, look much more like the USA Mid-west where all you can see are large areas of crops and border hedges.
Either way, they can still provide valuable protection, nesting and food for insects, birds and small animals.
They’re not, though in the extremely deforested british isles they might be accounted for to run up the numbers.
As a kid I lived in a small neighborhood in the small town of Montecito (adjacent to Santa Barbara) called The Hedgerow District. Some truly magnificent, towering hedges there.
Roughly here https://goo.gl/maps/ckkBszjTHqkqL25Z8
Roughly here https://goo.gl/maps/ckkBszjTHqkqL25Z8
How unique is this to Britain? Do other countries have similar hedge density?
I don't have a definitive answer, but I've flown to quite a few places around the world and coming back to the UK, the patchwork of fields and hedgerows is really quite distinctive. I can't think of anywhere else that really has them.
In many places they were torn down following mechanization as they’re inconvenient when tractoring about.
I know that some places are starting to incentivise planting them again, because bare fields let wind race and as soon as it rains a bit hard half the field ends on the road blocking it.
I know that some places are starting to incentivise planting them again, because bare fields let wind race and as soon as it rains a bit hard half the field ends on the road blocking it.
How many is "many"?
In almost all farms, there are hedges and they simply have gates or gaps in them to move between fields so they shouldn't be so inconvenient that the entire hedge needs to be removed.
I was reading that the UK might only have 30 harvests left before the soil is completely depeleted due to intensive farming and the necessity of fertilisers to try and compensate. If there was better education for farmers, for example access to free consulation, good use of additional flora and correct crop-rotation can increase yields significantly. If someone is cutting down a hedge, it probably proves that they should be first on the list!
In almost all farms, there are hedges and they simply have gates or gaps in them to move between fields so they shouldn't be so inconvenient that the entire hedge needs to be removed.
I was reading that the UK might only have 30 harvests left before the soil is completely depeleted due to intensive farming and the necessity of fertilisers to try and compensate. If there was better education for farmers, for example access to free consulation, good use of additional flora and correct crop-rotation can increase yields significantly. If someone is cutting down a hedge, it probably proves that they should be first on the list!
> How many is "many"?
Most or all of continental western europe. AFAIK hedges used to be pretty common all over agricultural regions (e.g. belgium, beauce, bresse, bavaria, …), they largely got torn down after WW2, except for north-western france, and a few areas which retained them for historical or cultural reasons (e.g. Monschau).
> In almost all farms, there are hedges and they simply have gates or gaps in them to move between fields so they shouldn't be so inconvenient that the entire hedge needs to be removed.
That requires going to the gate in order to get in and out the field, as well as limit your ability to farm to the edge of the field, and it limits the size of the agricultural equipment you can use short of rebuilding the hedge any time it gets too big.
And the logic was likely that if you’re bringing heavy equipment to open larger gates in your hedge, and removing part of the hedges because land is being consolidated, you might as well remove all of it right now than have to do so every 10 years.
Most or all of continental western europe. AFAIK hedges used to be pretty common all over agricultural regions (e.g. belgium, beauce, bresse, bavaria, …), they largely got torn down after WW2, except for north-western france, and a few areas which retained them for historical or cultural reasons (e.g. Monschau).
> In almost all farms, there are hedges and they simply have gates or gaps in them to move between fields so they shouldn't be so inconvenient that the entire hedge needs to be removed.
That requires going to the gate in order to get in and out the field, as well as limit your ability to farm to the edge of the field, and it limits the size of the agricultural equipment you can use short of rebuilding the hedge any time it gets too big.
And the logic was likely that if you’re bringing heavy equipment to open larger gates in your hedge, and removing part of the hedges because land is being consolidated, you might as well remove all of it right now than have to do so every 10 years.
I grew up in Illinois. The fields there are often surrounded on all sides by a narrow woodland area, sometimes only 10s of feet thick.
I was told the woodland areas are maintained as wind barriers for the otherwise flat plains. Not sure how true that is, but they’re definitely home to normal woodland fauna: dear, squirrels, rabbits, turkey, etc.
I was told the woodland areas are maintained as wind barriers for the otherwise flat plains. Not sure how true that is, but they’re definitely home to normal woodland fauna: dear, squirrels, rabbits, turkey, etc.
Yup my grandparents' farm had rows of trees to act as wind barriers. Their farm was large enough that they had 3-4 (don't remember exactly) rows just within their property, never mind the barriers on the property line.
It certainly wasn't unique to Britain at all.
Many of these hedges were removed with farming mechanisation and industrialisation, though, in France for instance, and have completely disappeared in many places.
Many of these hedges were removed with farming mechanisation and industrialisation, though, in France for instance, and have completely disappeared in many places.
Indeed - grew-up in the middle of the Kentish countryside during the 70s and witnessed the wholesale removal of thousands of hedges to create the prairie landscape so beloved of "big-farma" (see what I did there).
The wildlife loss was obvious even back then, not to speak of how the intimate Wealden landscape was almost completely despoiled. Luckily the wholesale destruction was slowed when farmers realized these wind and rain-swept prairies were destroying the topsoil.
The wildlife loss was obvious even back then, not to speak of how the intimate Wealden landscape was almost completely despoiled. Luckily the wholesale destruction was slowed when farmers realized these wind and rain-swept prairies were destroying the topsoil.
New Zealand, at least the South Island, had quite a few when I was there 15 years ago. They are used to pen sheep and also deer, although I’m not sure what kind of deer. They are smaller than deer found in North America, and venison is sold in many supermarkets alongside lamb and other meat products.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorse_in_New_Zealand I'd say the 'hedges' are much more dense in NZ :)
I believe Normandy, France, if not a lot of western France, also has hedgerows “bocage”.
Normandy is English! Or vice versa.
The Normans descended from the Norse so not quite.
The British royal family are the descendants of the Norman William the Conqueror.
Their power descends from it. They are intermarried with many European houses, do blood wise they are not so much.
Both!
when flying in to Gatwick (LGW) from MUC 10 yrs ago, the land looked like an image of microscopic cell structures – the hedges were omnipresent. Bavaria knocked down most hedges in the 70ies during "land consolidation" to optimise agricultural land for industrial cultivation:
Coherent and larger patches per owner, rectangular, enterable.
Land here seen from above looks tiled. Not cells.
Coherent and larger patches per owner, rectangular, enterable.
Land here seen from above looks tiled. Not cells.
English fields are Voronoi tesselations, to be specific.
I've seen similar hedges in northern france, particularly Brittany
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I knew a lot of farmers who managed to get rid of problem hedges during the height of the pandemic because local planning didn't respond within 42days when we had the first major lockdown.
Interesting, any links to cite?
Nope just speaking to farmers at shoots over the last month.
Not something you'd openly speak to journalists about, god forbid the RSPB gets involved which are at this point a countryside mafia.
Not something you'd openly speak to journalists about, god forbid the RSPB gets involved which are at this point a countryside mafia.
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what seems to be missed here maybe for some vague ideas of it being less "natural" is that every hedgerow that I've ever seen that is being used as a livestock barrier has a hefty dose of barbed wire preventing the livestock from going through. You can nail barbed wire right into trees and bushes and attach electric fences with screw on attachments right into trees. Works great. Still has all the benefits for nature but is much more practical from a farmer point of view.
As a wildlife photographer I probably take 75% of my photos of birds in hedges. I don’t have to camp out for hours - I just walk along the hedgerows aimlessly.
Also, if other countries don’t have hedges, what happens to the grotty pornography magazines that dwell natively in the hedgerows? Are they in some sort of meta-state of quasi-existence? A theoretical hedgerow porn mag?