Cycle or walk around the countryside and you might see the benefits of a flourishing hedgerow to wildlife: as nest sites, food sources and shelter. Birdsong fills the air and a multitude of insects hover around. But move away from a thick, healthy hedgerow, or to an area devoid of them, and the chirping and buzzing cease.
Protecting hedgerows was a feature of ‘Cross-compliance’ – the rules farmers and landowners must follow to benefit from rural payments. With the demise of this system at the end of 2023, there was much concern that hedgerow safety would lapse also. Until similar, or better, regulations are incorporated into UK law, hedgerows are at risk.
In preparation, as East Anglia Bylines reported, Defra sought views as to the future protection of hedgerows on agricultural land in England. The 12-week consultation in 2023 included questions about the length of the hedgerow cutting season, the size of buffer strips, exemptions, what sanction regime could be applied to enforce adherence to future rules and whether legislation should also apply to non-agricultural land.
Consultation feedback
Defra received 8,692 responses, excluding duplicate submissions. Campaigns by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Wild Justice led to approximately 2,289 submissions – identified largely by the similarity of ‘template’ answers.
As part of their analysis Defra identified two broad categories of respondents: those from the farming sector, and those with an environmental perspective. The latter group sought to strengthen the existing hedgerows’ protections. In contrast, responses from the farming sector sought to simplify and balance the protection of the environment with farming productivity.
A case in point is the length of the no-cutting period. The environmental group favoured extending beyond 31 August. Many respondents expressed the opinion that cutting to preserve berries, fruit and nuts as food sources in the autumn or early winter should be prioritised.
Suffolk farmer Graham Denny notes that the majority of respondents favouring an extension might not own a farmland hedge. Consequently they might not fully understand the implications that go further than just the bird life. Perhaps sharing this view, Defra have opted to maintain the status quo. However they have also commissioned additional research from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to explore the issue further including how climate change might be impacting breeding seasons.
The farmer’s view
“Lengthening the no cut would have been more problematic,” says Denny. “The timeline at present is sufficient to give 99.9% of birds a chance. I seldom see birds nesting later, with the exception of the woodpigeon that breed every month of the year.”
Denny goes on to explain that extending the no-cut period by a week pushes farmers to delay cutting until January or February after the busy harvest and winter sowing period. They would then risk killing dormant insects and small rodents in the tussocks and grass margins with the weight of their heavy machinery on the soft wet ground. Such loss is significant. These creatures and insects are essential food needed to feed nesting birds and chicks in the coming year.
“Any cutting in autumn is on dry soil. This is by far the best time to run on margins. The warm weather sees insects active, and mammals’ burrows that are firm enough to take the weight of several tonnes of cutting machinery,” explains Denny. “It also allows time for vegetation to recover before winter, giving dry homes above ground that are essential for insects.”
Denny points to the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme and Sustainable Farming Incentive which allow for the management of cutting on alternate sides of a hedgerow, 1 in 3 years. This maintains the essential berry harvest and habitat for over-wintering insects that are essential for many birds and mammals such as wrens, long tail tits, goldcrest and shrews.
“Most farmers take a lot of pride in their hedges,” Denny says. “Managing hedgerows before winter is better for all kinds of wildlife, especially if you are playing percentages.”
Defra’s view
Defra recognises that hedgerows play an important role in farming. They slow soil erosion and their inhabitants support an integrated pest management approach and provide pollination. The consultation showed that there is consensus that hedges should be protected in law. Hence the government intends to bring forward new legislation to protect hedgerows in England “as soon as Parliamentary time allows”.
Government announcements suggest that the new rules will largely replicate the requirements that farmers are familiar with from cross-compliance – two metre buffer strips where no cultivation or application of pesticides or fertilisers must happen, no-cut periods, exemptions, but “with a simpler, fairer and more proportionate approach to enforcement.”
The consultation survey showed overwhelming support to extend the hedgerow management protections beyond agriculture lands.
But the government has no immediate plans to do this. Both the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the RSPB were in support of extending protections. The NFU stated: “Wildlife does not discriminate between hedgerows in scope and not in scope of the Hedgerow Regulations 1997.” The RSPB described the move to extend as a “no regrets” step towards meeting England’s biodiversity and carbon targets.
“We trust farmers and land managers to look after hedgerows,” reports Defra. “The proposed regulations will provide the reassurance that everyone follows the same management approach.”
Time will tell how safe our hedgerows will be. Until the new legislation is included in The Hedgerows Regulations 1997, they may not be as well protected as we would like.
