farm, food & countryside

Construction

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of the Countryside

The Hedge

The old

barn

Hedges are not

as old as you

Barns provide

might think. Most were planted at

the architecture of our countryside.

the time of enclosures in the 18th

They were built to store crops or

century. After the second World War

house animals in bad weather. Most

when the tractor replaced the horse

would be found in the farmyard but

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on the farm many hedges were

others can be found in remote

removed to accommodate the new

spots standing alone. The materials

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machines. The good news is that

they are made from often reflect the

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Britain retains tens of thousands of

locality; stone where stone is

miles of hedges and remains one of

plentiful and timber where it is not.

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the most hedged landscapes in the

Some have been converted into

world. What is more since the

residences. Fortunately most

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1980s hedge planting has seen a

remain in their original state. As

revival with farmers planting 7000

such they provide vital habitat for

miles of new hedge since 1990.

species such as barn owl, swallow

Hedges provide

and bat.

valuable habitats for

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mammals, birds,

insects and plants.

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The ditch

The

The pond

The farm

The copse

We tend to take many of

meadow

track

the features of our

Ditches, or

Farm ponds

The copse, or

and the

dykes, are small

were usually

spinney, is a

Two hundred

countryside for granted,

margin

watercourses around fields that

created by farmers to provide water

small group of trees and shrubs. In

years ago decent roads were rare in

assuming they are

drain the land so that crops can be

for stock. Some may be thousands

the 1990s alone farmers planted 87

Britain. The country was criss-

If fields were left unfarmed then the

naturally occurring.

grown. Unlike streams they are not

of years old, others are more

million trees. Copses act to `break'

crossed by a myriad of cart tracks

grass would grow rank and smother

natural but have been dug by

recent. Today farmers dig large

up the open countryside and

whose origins went back into the

We forget it is a worked

most flowering plants. Where the

farmers. They provide habitat for

ponds called reservoirs, to collect

provide stopping-off points for

mists of time. Many of those cart

grass is grazed or mown a different

countryside not a natural

creatures such as voles and plants

winter rainfall which may be

species such as deer that feel

tracks remain but today they are

range of flora will thrive. Buttercups

one. Most of its features

such as primrose. Water quality in

sprayed on to crops in dry

vulnerable unless they have cover.

used not by horse and cart but by

and dandelions are our best known

British waterways generally is better

summers. At present there are over

Species of tree and shrub will vary

tractor and trailer. Some are used

were put there by

meadow flowers but in Britain we

than it has been at any

230,900 ponds in England and

but weaving its thorny presence will

as `droves' to herd animals from

have hundreds of wild flower

farmers over many

time since the

Wales, an increase of 12,200 on the

be the bramble. Brambles provide

one field to another. Many of our

species. The edge of fields are

generations and are now

industrial revolution.

number found in 1990. Farm ponds

us with blackberries and offer small

footpaths run along these ancient

known as the margin. With good

provide habitat for a range of

creatures protection from larger

tracks. They are also used by wild

maintained by farmers.

management from the farmer this

species. Ducks and

predators who find the

animals such as foxes

uncropped area will

frogs come to mind

prickles hard to

or hares. Like roads,

engender great

but look a little closer

negotiate

tracks need

biodiversity. There are

and you will see all

maintenance. It is

over 15,000 hectares

manner of life such as sticklebacks

often down to the farmer to

of field margin in Britain managed

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and water boatmen.

maintain them.

by farmers to benefit biodiversity.