My local council have really excelled themselves today, they have only hacked a hedgerow to within a millimetre of its life.
The brambles & nettles were not in the way of anybody so I do not buy the health & safety cry. I walk this path every day on my dog walk & rarely ever see another person using it. The other side of this hedgerow is a ditch which was one of only two local places that the Orange Tip has a supply of Garlic Mustard. That has been hacked to the ground too. The nettles were home to 7 spotted Ladybirds which have had a battle against the invasion of Harlequins.
We have had some really bad rainfall here & I was getting frightened that we would have a second poor year for the local insects & wildlife , so this is not going to help.
I have now rang the council & shared my thoughts with them!
I am so angry & really want to cry at what they might have done.
I can only hope not too much has died , that it can recover and they might just listen !
You have my sympathy's, your probably find that some do gooder with nothing better to do, has complained about the hedge, so the council cut it, they don't like to do to much of their own backs. I'm a member of my local PC, and I get quite agree with all the misguided requests to cut back this, chop down that, clear the weed from the river. I'm afraid the vast majority of people are ignorant to the environment they live in. And when they do venture away from watching Neighbours or the alike, and step foot into the countryside, their fist urge is to complain that the grass is to long and it needs strimming or similar.
I too watch with horror as all the nectar sources and food plants are mown down in my local cemetery as part of the maintenance program!
When I tell people there are gold crests, sparrow hawks, even weasels, in the cemetery they react with total surprise. I too hear complaints about it being too "messy and overgrown", with too much ivy on the gravestones, etc, from those who proclaim to be wildlife friendly - but don't know what that really entails!
We have many open-spaces in local authority care - surely it is time to make sure that these authorities take a lead and manage these spaces for their environmental and conservation value, rather than as extentions of our gardens?
NickB
"Conservation starts in small places, close to home..."
The small country lane verges near me which in the last two weeks have been filled with hundreds of ringlets have just been cut back. Is there a good time of year when this should be done (if at all)?
Steve
Steve W wrote:Is there a good time of year when this should be done (if at all)?
I think the "general" answer is "No". The approach, therefore, should always be one of rotation, which I believe is used on many reserves, for example. The reality is that you do need to maintain habitat, just don't "maintain" it all in one go!
In Cambridge, the local Friends of Mill Road Cemetery (FoMRC -of which I am a member) has just entered into the dicussion and planning for long term management of a local mature Victorian cemetery along with Trustees and four different project officers representing the Council. The cemetery is a fantastic resource for wildlife and forms the heart of a wider space surrounded by old gardens and mature trees right in the middle (but was the edge in 1848) of the present City. Not only have over 30 species of bird been recorded as living in or close to the cemetery (including migrants like siskin and mainly in winter juveniles of more woodland species like woodpecker and jay) but thirteen species of butterfly - vg for Holly Blue. Some parts have been allowed to go to grass and brambles and graves to be covered with ivy. Bushes and undergrowth provide micro climates under the more mature trees on the boundaries, whilst at present the centre areas are mown and strimmed more regularly (than I personally would like). However, we did come away with a broad agreement that the longer term aim should be to go for a moasic approach, whereby similar adjacent areas are not cut back at the same time time, and other areas are allowed to grow on. Since nothing regarding grants and applications and changes to schedules between council departments is ever quick or easy, it is also perhaps worth noting that from the perspective of the wildlife, on balance, no change is better than unthoughtful clearance or timing of cutting!
There are of course other concerns, since it is after all a cemetery and place of rememberance and we must at all times be sensitive to that. It has an interesting history and some original features such as the boundary wall, plantings in the form of mature trees and the distinctive pattern of the original paths; it also contains listed gravestones and war graves and serves as a place where dogs are walked, people eat their lunch, sit in the sun(if we have any) and local kids play and meet and where the local homeless and hostel dwellers sit and drink and worse!
However, we do hope that we can inform and engage with the local community that use MRC. We aim to encourage nesting for birds and roosts for bats with boxes donated by a local community project, increase grassland butterfly species by careful management and inform the public about this unique and special place and why it is important in so many ways.
Councils are now seemingly more aware of the implications of any changes they may sanction and whether they fit into the overall objectives for that designation of space in the local plan; they just take a long time to act or turn a little! At least it is a small step in the right direction!
"Conservation starts in small places, close to home..."
