why do they do that

[Headfry]

Driving into work this morning. ok so not one of my best mornings but got so angry with what I saw.....they were 'hacking' the hedgerows back.
Are farmers not supposed to have a 'code' for when they can 'hack' at the hedgerows
What is the point of not doing it in the spring when birds are nesting IF YOU CHOP DOWN THEIR WINTER FOOD SUPPLY!
grrrrrrrr how angry am I - very!
so why do they chop hedgerows full of valuable bird food? can they not wait another month or two when the birds and animals will have stripped the berries etc.
Why?
Why?
oh Why?

[lainey lou]

Quite!
Totally agree, makes no sense!

[TPeers]

I can think of two reasons - though either or neither might be relevant.

1) Harvest is in, the farmer is getting on with all the maintenance jobs before the frosts set in and make life even harder.

2) The farmer has no choice - his contract with the land owner requires hedge maitenance in autumn.

I would also think that unless the farmer is unusually accepting of wildlife on his land that he cares very little for maintaining a food source!

[Hilary B]

I don't think I've seen a FARMER mangling the hedgerows in years. It's usually the highways people! I HATE those hedge-manglers (the machines) and not just because they are so slow and cause traffic jams!
Not so long ago someone near here planted a new hedge, obviously with the intent of 'laying' it in the traditional fashion (gives a secure hedge, AND better cover for wildlife). This requires stems several feet tall. Comes summer the council gang 'trimmed' it down to 3ft, having driven their machine onto the wide verge in order to do so........

[WeeGarden]

I saw that this morning with highways people 'landscaping' - they've gone and chopped a whole load of trees down next to the dual carriageway. For what, I don't know - they've always been there.

[Hilary B]

I saw that this morning with highways people 'landscaping' - they've gone and chopped a whole load of trees down next to the dual carriageway. For what, I don't know - they've always been there.

In case a tree falls on someone and the council get sued?
There has been a lot of that sort of tree felling around here lately, but the most 'fragile' tree in the area has every type of protection imaginable, because it is a VERY old oak tree.......

[Headfry]

TPeers yes that is very true , but just an extra months wait would make a huge difference.
I should not blame the just farmers as the local council are perhaps worse. Maybe someone like the woodland trust or local nature groups should take on the challenge to alter the mind set.

They have chopped down so many trees here too. What is going on in this world?

[SlugLobber]

They have to do it about now on some of our lanes, as they become unpassable (they're single width as it is). I do agree, though, that it's annoying when they mangle hedges for the sake of speed. Most of our hedges on wider roads don't even get cut now. Mole Valley has proclaimed that it is merely 'Prettification'. Nothing to do with keeping the footpath passable, then??? The farmer cut ones rounnd here get done in October/November. They're still too busy to worry about trimming hedges at this time of year!

[HeyWayne]

Is this where they use those grass cutter things on the back of a tractor and leave the hedge looking like it's been dragged through a hurricane backwards.

I thought it was called "threshing". Makes a right mess of the hedges round our way if it's the same thing you're talking about.

[TEB]

You can always tell who's land you are walking around here by the way the hedges are trimmed and they all use the same method, the ones that do it properly ignore the ever lengthening queue of cars behind them . Though I do find that the birds dont eat the produce in the hedgerows or not to any great degree (not that that is any excuse).

[julesapple]

They're mangling all the hedges here abouts - not good with a missing kestrel.

The other thing that bugs me, is they just leave the chunks of hedge/tree in the road to blow away or rot down. We picked up a puncture one year from a fairly small but darned sharp cutting. Right in the middle of nowhere too, and in the rain. Much fun was not had by all.

Jules

[Headfry]

HW - sounds like the same....the machines seem to mangle the hedges, I know the plants recover, its just the loss of the wildlife's food supply that erks me. If I ever pick from hedgerows I always take care to leave the critters plenty as they cant nip of to the shops for supplies!
The hedge rows look so awful, so many mangled boughs (some were quite big trees) I think they must have the daddy of all manglers out here in North Oxfordshire! Its trashed really quite large trees.
ps Most of the hedgerow that I saw was well away from road edge. Country roads so no footpaths be worried about and no real threat to drivers! I am still grrrrrrrr about this.

[Sue]

I think the mangling might be a lot to do with if they can be bothered to keep the machine blades sharp.

My allotment backs on the allotment hedge and it gets done twice a year by contract gardeners. Sometimes it looks fine if rather brutal other times the stems are torn and twisted. Whatever they do the waste clippings go all over my allotment.

I also find if I keep as much under control as possible then they tend to leave it alone.

There aren't that many food plants in the hedge after the blackberries, unless birds eat privet berries?? But there are plenty left lower down and the hawthornes also produce berries lower down. The holly trees are huge now so safe from hedge rippers and provide a plentiful food source all winter.

And as an aside have you ever watched pigeons in holly trees. I am sure they use the prickly leaves to anchor their outstretched wings. The berries are on the whippy branches, too light for their weight and they seem to spread their wings to stick to the prickles so they can lean down to get the berries. It looks very strange when there's a whole load of them, all with wings outstretched looking like christmas tree ornaments.

Sue

[janeyo]

Ring the council / highways.. complain and make your thoughts heard.
It might not do any good but at least you tried!
Council etc are usually pretty clueless about what things can actually be safely done and when, they just have an itinery to follow.