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What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

knowablemagazine.org

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Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#61

Post by jeffrallen »

robotmay wrote: post #21

This’ll likely make me sound like a lunatic, but when I go abroad from the UK, hedgerows are one of the top 3 things I miss (the other two being beer and tea). They’re just so ubiquitous when travelling here, and they make the world feel a bit smaller. 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, i…

Come to Switzerland, then. We have nice hedges, excellent beer, and... Right, did I mention the nice hedges? :)

Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#62

Post by robbedpeter »

Sophistifunk wrote: post #49
aspenmayer wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who are confused, “woods porn” is apparently a thing. 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.

Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#63

Post by masklinn »

robotmay wrote: post #21

This’ll likely make me sound like a lunatic, but when I go abroad from the UK, hedgerows are one of the top 3 things I miss (the other two being beer and tea). They’re just so ubiquitous when travelling here, and they make the world feel a bit smaller. 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, i…

> 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.

Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#64

Post by masklinn »

t0mas88 wrote: post #7
seltzered_ wrote: post #5

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 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.

They’re not, though in the extremely deforested british isles they might be accounted for to run up the numbers.

Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#65

Post by null_object »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #22
sirdavidof wrote: post #2

How unique is this to Britain? Do other countries have similar hedge density?

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.

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.

Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#66

Post by lbriner »

t0mas88 wrote: post #7
seltzered_ wrote: post #5

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 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.

Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#67

Post by twic »

FredPret wrote: post #47
rp1 wrote: post #45

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.

Maybe they go to Berlin for the nightlife

Yeah, there are a lot of underground hedge clubs that rp1 is obviously not cool enough to know about.

Re: What the world can learn from Britain’s humble hedge

#68

Post by lbriner »

masklinn wrote: post #4
sirdavidof wrote: post #2

How unique is this to Britain? Do other countries have similar hedge density?

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.

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!

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