BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-04)

66 BBC Wildlife April 2020

Their story starts back in the ancient

woodlands that once covered most of the

British Isles. It seems likely that the very

earliest of hedgerows were simply the edges

of clearings amid existing woodland. These

clumps of dense forest would not have been

p rticularly productive (apart from a few

berries, nuts and fungi), as tree

canopies block light and roots

take up most of the available

moisture that any crops would

need. But where natural clearings

appeared, both light and moisture

evels increased.

Gradually, people enlarged

hese clearings to grow more

and more crops. In the process

of hacking back many of the

woodland trees to their bases

the ash, maple, hawthorn and

blackthorn that even now make up

he bulk of our hedgerows), they

would have sprouted back

were about 402,000km of hedgerows

in England alone. A living link to our

past, they have an extraordinary and

complex history – tied both to the birth of

agriculture and to one of the most seismic

political changes to our countryside.

H

edgerows meander

through the British

countryside – ever-

changing dividers of

road from field, and

field from pasture. In

spring, their bases are

speckled with a constellation of flowers;

in summer, the sides and tops are bright

green and brimming with foxgloves and

roses; in autumn, they become a tapestry

of red, orange, yellow and brown leaves

and glistening berries; and in winter, they

are dense and twiggy and strung with fluffy

old man’s beard.

Though a constant presence, hedgerows

can often be overlooked and taken for

granted. Yet they have

much more to offer

than merely acting as

boundary markers. Look

beneath the surface and

you’ll discover they are

hugely varied, containing

hundreds of plant species

which support dozens of

invertebrates, mammals

and birds. And all of this

in a strip often less than

2m wide.

This wonderous

habitat is peculiarly

British. A 2007 survey

estimated that there

Right: a typical

rural road,

lined with living

borders that

oer protection

to wildlife.

Tu r n e r ’s Hedging

and Ditching shows

19th-century land

management.

y

y

y

H

E

D G

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O W y y y H I G

H L I G

H

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PRIMROSE

Primula vulgaris

One of the first flowers of

the year, its lemon-yellow,

nectar-filled blooms

appear at the base of

hedgerows.