Category Archives: Hedges and Biodiversity
Unpaving your garden – from concrete to green…
I just saw this blog post, by Kate Bradbury, a gardener who chose to remove the concrete from her front garden. She’s quite right to note that the concreting of front garden space is one of the blights of our … Continue reading
Filed under Gardening Thoughts, Hedges and Biodiversity
Another Hedge of Many Species
This one is from Eaglescarnie Mains, a farm in East Lothian, run by Michael and Barbara Williams, also photos from my mum. It’s at least a couple of centuries old, going from maps, but given the variety of species it … Continue reading
Filed under Everyday Hedges, Hedges and Biodiversity, Rural Britain
A Hedge of Many Species
As I keep mentioning, hedges have a valuable role to play in biodiversity, as they contain such a wide variety of flora and fauna, and provide cover and nutrition for many small animals, whether they be bird, mammal, insect or … Continue reading
Filed under Everyday Hedges, Hedges and Biodiversity, Rural Britain
How to help bees
Jordans, whose current advert features cute little talking hedgerow creatures, do at least seem to be putting their money where their mouth is in terms of conservation – they claim that they ask the farmers who grow their grain to … Continue reading
Filed under Hedges and Biodiversity
Hedges and bees – and the future of our crops
There is a good article in the Guardian (here) about research done by Northampton University’s Landscape and Biodiversity Research Group showing that bees use hedgerows to navigate around the countryside. Of course we already know how crucial bees are for … Continue reading
Filed under Hedges and Biodiversity, Rural Britain
“Juniper Toffee and Elderflower Delight”
Just a quick plug for John Wright’s lovely book on food from the hedgerow: Hedgerow (River Cottage Handbook)
Filed under Everyday Hedges, Hedge Politics, Hedges and Biodiversity
Trees for Cities (…and remember that hedges are trees too)
Trees for Cities are a nice charity who aim to help people to plant more urban trees, which is a great cause as trees make a big difference to the urban environment. Their website is here: http://www.treesforcities.org/ It’s also worth … Continue reading
Filed under Gardening Thoughts, Hedges and Biodiversity, Trees
Ancient Hedges in Ireland
In Ireland, hedges were planted to enclose “town lands” from the medieval period onwards. Known as townland boundaries, these are some of the most ancient and species-rich Irish hedges. A recent survey of hedgerows in County Monaghan found that 12% … Continue reading
Filed under Hedges and Biodiversity, Historical Hedges
