- Location
- Essex
That attitude is outdated. You can't just do what you want any more. Even if it is yours.
Surely you lose all the fruit if you cut before winter?
Genocide in the countryside
- Thread starter onthehoof
- Start date
kfpben
Member
- Location
- Mid Hampshire
Symptomatic of the creeping tentacles of government into everyday life.
At the basic level, I question the point of ownership now, given the number of restrictions on land use.
Fair enough but it don't half look boring with all box hedges looking all manicured.Leave an oak in the middle of a hedge and in 10 years you have a nice tree / bush .Each to their own I guess
Possibly one way of explaining it is by saying you may own the land, but you don’t own the view.
Whether you agree with that or not, it is a fact of life.
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
Yes cut later on but up here most fruit gets eaten off the hedges before December especially when the field fares arrive.
And the dreaded grey squirrels strip everything.
Well, just about anything but a hedge brusher?
I thought the Welsh were pretty eccentric calling a microwave a ‘popty ping’, which at least describes what it does I suppose.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
It is. When I moved here I wondered why you lot were all messing about with brushes when the hedges wanted trimming anyway….
- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
I have never heard anyone say popty ping, only meicrow waave or meicrow don
Right, so I googled it. Some Welsh speakers use popty ping, but in a slightly tongue- in- cheek sort of way, although as you say it is more common to use the words in your post.
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
This got me wondering what exactly does benefit from the berries being there?
I have seen Fieldfares and Blackbirds on them but don't recall seeing anything else feeding on them. I expect Robins will and Bluetits maybe.
I leave enough apples in my orchards to support hundreds of Fieldfares each year but have noticed they prefer maize stubble if available. The barsteward Blackbirds seem to prefer coming into my shed for their apples and crapping on the rest. They really are a pain at times and have been all my life in this regard, even when Grandfather was running the place I remember him having the same issues.
Blackbirds and Fieldfares are winter immigrants, strange to think the Blackbirds are (not all of them, some are native obviously)
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
I’ve seen field mice and dormice running the bottom of hedgerows taking the fallen berries and fruit.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
I've seen the self-entitled folk of Montgomery stripping hedges bare of blackberries, before any birds get a chance.
Good reason for trimming on September 1st.
- Location
- Northumberland
Just thinking the same thing myself this afternoon.
Never see a flock of anything eating rose hips or hawthorn berries.
Badger like brambles, if you examine their shite
Holly berries disapear in a spell of hard weather.
Lots of birds seem to do well on a working farm. a fact that seems to escape the rewilding lobby
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
Hadn't thought of them but yes mice will have them. Never seen a dormouse in my life.
The field mice and voles climb my trees and eat the apples when still on the tree. I don't mind sharing them but do wish they would finish one before starting the next.
They'd be doing well to strip them bare, loads of blackberries around here and very rare to see anyone picking them. I have my own thornless ones in the garden and have blackberry and apple crumble daily while they are in season, also well stocked up in my freezer.I've seen the self-entitled folk of Montgomery stripping hedges bare of blackberries, before any birds get a chance.
Good reason for trimming on September 1st.
I always thought starting early on hedges was a good thing but the amount of insects feeding on the ivy flowers has made me change my mind. An incredible range of insects on there but most noticeably are honey bees, hover flies and Red Admiral butterflies.
I think the value of a working farm, especially a livestock farm, to nature all round is incredibly underappreciated.
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
The do gooders don’t realise the habitat created on a livestock farm.
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
Anyone here still make Rowan berry jelly like they did years ago?
Been on trimming, lots of berries still left on the hedges afterwards
itsalwaysme
Member
- Location
- Cheshire
Probably a name used from when hedges were cut by hand, Brushing hook was a term used around here in CheshireIt is. When I moved here I wondered why you lot were all messing about with brushes when the hedges wanted trimming anyway….
Rather than shouting into the echo chamber at the ill educated who aren't even listening is this not a better approach to educate them?
Dear Kathy,
I am quite saddened at the negativity in the comments on your website, along with the utter lack of understanding from many who have commented.
I don't wish to argue with ill-educated folk on the matter with a very one sided, blinkered view, so didn't look to put a comment on your website.
There have been countryside stewardship and various other schemes run for hedges for many years before SFI came about, they were thought up by office bods who had no idea what they were trying to achieve. Flora and fauna suffered off the back of this.
Our family farm is organic/arable. We cut, not "thug" a reasonable amount of our hedges annually, leave some for years and cut every few years the remainder, certainly never killed any and have planted over 2km of new hedgerows in the past 15 years which are managed. We are in the top 98% for bird species in the UK including many on the red list.
Before lobbying for the wrong thing (farmers are under enough unjustified pressure already) could I encourage you to come here with supporters for a few workshops and a tour of the farm? I have plans to plant 2000m more native hedgerow this winter and would happily take volunteers from your website/supporters to aid planting along with educating them better.
Dear Kathy,
I am quite saddened at the negativity in the comments on your website, along with the utter lack of understanding from many who have commented.
I don't wish to argue with ill-educated folk on the matter with a very one sided, blinkered view, so didn't look to put a comment on your website.
There have been countryside stewardship and various other schemes run for hedges for many years before SFI came about, they were thought up by office bods who had no idea what they were trying to achieve. Flora and fauna suffered off the back of this.
Our family farm is organic/arable. We cut, not "thug" a reasonable amount of our hedges annually, leave some for years and cut every few years the remainder, certainly never killed any and have planted over 2km of new hedgerows in the past 15 years which are managed. We are in the top 98% for bird species in the UK including many on the red list.
Before lobbying for the wrong thing (farmers are under enough unjustified pressure already) could I encourage you to come here with supporters for a few workshops and a tour of the farm? I have plans to plant 2000m more native hedgerow this winter and would happily take volunteers from your website/supporters to aid planting along with educating them better.
Expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for farmers published
Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer from July will give the sector a clear path forward and boost farm business resilience.
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...
From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024
Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...