An Environmental History of Wildlife in England 1650-1950

(^48) an environmenTal hisTory of Wildlife in england
problems for farmers because the new growth required protection from
browsing livestock for 2 or 3 years. Where substantial ditches accompanied
a hedge, as was usual on heavier ground, animals were simply excluded
from the unditched side for the necessary period. Alternatively, or in
addition, the hedge might be temporarily protected with hurdles or lines
of staked brushwood. Whatever the precise mode of management, leases
often included detailed stipulations regarding the frequency of coppicing or
laying, especially where fuel was in short supply and farmers were tempted
to over-crop, one for a farm at Harpenden in Hertfordshire in 1723, for
example, instructing that the tenant ‘shall not new make or plaish [sic] any
of the hedges under or above 12 years growth and then onely at seasonable
times in the yeare’.^42
The benefits of hedges in terms of wildlife conservation are well
documented. They provide habitats for the same kinds of flora and fauna
evolved to thrive on the margins of wooded ground, although with the
additional benefit that in many cases they were located beside an arable
field, providing particularly rich pickings for small mammals such as field
voles. They provide shelter, that is, for animals which would otherwise find
no place to live in these endlessly disturbed, yet food-rich, environments.^43
Hedges also serve as corridors, linking wooded areas and other uncultivated
pockets, which are used by invertebrates and small mammals, and to a lesser
extent by birds and plants, although their precise importance in this respect
figure 11 In early modern England hedges were often coppiced, rather than laid.
This modern example is being brought back into management after several years
of neglect. Note the large amounts of fuel logs and (in the distance) brushwood
produced by the process. The upright posts are for the erection of a fence to protect
the regenerating stools on the right from grazing livestock. Traditionally, staked
brushwood would have been employed for this purpose.