Hedges are wonderful things: not only do they act as highways for animals and birds to travel safely from one area to another, they also act as supermarkets. They are the ideal place for animals and birds to stock up on essential supplies.
All the green plants in a hedge contain chlorophyll and with this they can use the sun’s energy to produce their sugary and starchy foods. We’ll call them the producers or shopkeepers. Animals and fungi can’t do this and in some way or other they all rely on plants for their food. They are the customers.
The hedge is like a giant pyramid, with billions of leaves at the bottom, which in turn feed millions of greenfly and caterpillars, which in turn feed thousands of beetles. These feed the small birds and the small birds feed the Sparrow-hawk.
That is of course just a simplification of everything. Some birds like the fruits from the hedge, others the seeds from the grasses and flowers which grow in the bottom of the hedge. A second pyramid can be formed starting with beetles and going up through mice and voles, which in turn feed owls, kestrels, foxes and badgers. Rabbits like to burrow in hedge banks or live above ground in very dense hedges and they feed the foxes and are essential to buzzards. A good mixed hedge, with a variety of products on its shelf attracts the greatest variety of shoppers. Just like Sainsburys really!!
More and more farmers are leaving wider margins unsprayed next to hedges allowing a greater diversity of plants to grow there. A few thistles are a boon to Goldfinches and everyone enjoys a nice view of these red cheeked little beauties. A few standard trees left along a hedge are also good. Ashes are probably the most common in this area and their keys or seeds are a favourite with Bullfinches. Oak trees support more insects than any other tree in Britain so one of these left in a hedge becomes a “superstore”.
It’s a shame that so many hedges have to be cut early in the autumn these days to accommodate winter cereals, but by changing to a two or three year cutting programme even this can be worked around. We are lucky to have as many hedges as we have in Chipperfield after the push by the government for greater productivity after the war and all the cash incentives that were available to help grub them out. Farmers seem to get a lot of bashing these days but the English countryside would not look the same if more of them had followed the “expert advice”. Those who work in the fields are often those who love and care for them the most but at the end of the day they have to make a living. They also have to call at a supermarket!
Wendy Bathurst