ianstone
09-13-2010, 04:47 PM
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01116/SNF3130FX-280_1116199a.jpg Threatened ... dormouse
Apex Hedge of extinction
THE UK lost more than 16,000 miles of hedgerows between 1998 and 2007, says a new report.
Here SHAUN SPIERS, Chief Executive of the Campaign To Protect Rural England, explains why we must fight to save them.
THEY are the living seams that have held the English countryside together for centuries.
Our hedgerows are a haven for beetles, lizards, doves, dormice and hundreds of other species. They are, in fact, vital ecosystems teeming with life. As a source of food, shelter and passage, "nature's motorways" are invaluable.
Bats use them to navigate back to their roosts, butterflies breed in them and toads hop through them to travel from pond to pond. Plant life, including fungi, also flourishes in hedgerows.
Yet new research suggests these precious cradles of life are under threat.
In the ten years to 2007, more than 16,000 miles of English hedgerows have disappeared. They have been destroyed to make way for development or simply lost by landowners failing to maintain them.
The impact of this loss? Animals with nowhere to hide from predators and a long way to go for food.
Creatures already close to extinction, such as the dormouse, face even tougher odds against survival without a safe place to nest.
Let's not forget the natural beauty, either. If hedgerows disappear, they take with them a distinctive feature of our countryside.
So the Campaign To Protect Rural England want to see this tide of destruction halted. Hedgerows have never been better protected by the law but we think there is still room for improvement. One of our first concerns is changing the criteria for protection.
At present, landowners apply to their council to get permission for removal.
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http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-e4m3Yko6bFYVc.gif?labels=NewsAndReference,Entertai nmentNews
The council then judges the value of that hedgerow, mainly based on the number of species it supports.
But visual impact on the landscape is not taken into account. So in an area like the north of England, only nine per cent of hedgerows are protected as a cooler climate means fewer species thrive in them.
We would like to see local people's views taken into account when making a case for saving or destroying a hedgerow, too.
Hedgerows are the countryside's unsung heroes. Next time you drive past one, just picture the hedgehog that travels safely under its shelter or the mouse that feeds its young from its berries.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/img/global/spacer.gif
Apex Hedge of extinction
THE UK lost more than 16,000 miles of hedgerows between 1998 and 2007, says a new report.
Here SHAUN SPIERS, Chief Executive of the Campaign To Protect Rural England, explains why we must fight to save them.
THEY are the living seams that have held the English countryside together for centuries.
Our hedgerows are a haven for beetles, lizards, doves, dormice and hundreds of other species. They are, in fact, vital ecosystems teeming with life. As a source of food, shelter and passage, "nature's motorways" are invaluable.
Bats use them to navigate back to their roosts, butterflies breed in them and toads hop through them to travel from pond to pond. Plant life, including fungi, also flourishes in hedgerows.
Yet new research suggests these precious cradles of life are under threat.
In the ten years to 2007, more than 16,000 miles of English hedgerows have disappeared. They have been destroyed to make way for development or simply lost by landowners failing to maintain them.
The impact of this loss? Animals with nowhere to hide from predators and a long way to go for food.
Creatures already close to extinction, such as the dormouse, face even tougher odds against survival without a safe place to nest.
Let's not forget the natural beauty, either. If hedgerows disappear, they take with them a distinctive feature of our countryside.
So the Campaign To Protect Rural England want to see this tide of destruction halted. Hedgerows have never been better protected by the law but we think there is still room for improvement. One of our first concerns is changing the criteria for protection.
At present, landowners apply to their council to get permission for removal.
Advertisement
http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-e4m3Yko6bFYVc.gif?labels=NewsAndReference,Entertai nmentNews
The council then judges the value of that hedgerow, mainly based on the number of species it supports.
But visual impact on the landscape is not taken into account. So in an area like the north of England, only nine per cent of hedgerows are protected as a cooler climate means fewer species thrive in them.
We would like to see local people's views taken into account when making a case for saving or destroying a hedgerow, too.
Hedgerows are the countryside's unsung heroes. Next time you drive past one, just picture the hedgehog that travels safely under its shelter or the mouse that feeds its young from its berries.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/img/global/spacer.gif