Write to your MP in defence of good hedgerow management -
(Scroll on for a copy-and-paste template)
Did you think hedgerows just "looked neat" before visiting this site?
Talk to your friends - they need to know what's going on!
Write to Wildlife Trusts, countryside charities, programme producers....
Make some noise about this. The rural landscape has been butchered into silence.
(Scroll on for a copy-and-paste template)
Did you think hedgerows just "looked neat" before visiting this site?
Talk to your friends - they need to know what's going on!
Write to Wildlife Trusts, countryside charities, programme producers....
Make some noise about this. The rural landscape has been butchered into silence.
Here is a template along the lines of my own letter to South Leicestershire's MP Alberto Costa. He replied, and referred my correspondence to Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for the Environment (at the time), who also responded.
We need you to add your voice, with pictures you have taken if possible.
Copy and paste this letter, or portions with amendments as you wish, then send to your MP who will be listed on the link given in the signature space below and in large letters at the base of this page:
We need you to add your voice, with pictures you have taken if possible.
Copy and paste this letter, or portions with amendments as you wish, then send to your MP who will be listed on the link given in the signature space below and in large letters at the base of this page:
Dear [name of your MP],
Writing with concern regarding maintenance and management of hedgerows in the UK, populations of wildlife continue to diminish drastically from once-healthy numbers of songbirds, insects and small mammals. A trending practice of cutting to the same height every autumn is perpetually removing forage, winter cover, and nest sites for the following year. Some landowners cut again in early spring. You have doubtless seen the result in driving around the countryside.
Natural England, Hedgelink, Science Direct, Agricology and CPRE clearly advise hedges be permitted to retain growth from the previous season in order that they may flower and fruit, to preferably cut in rotational cycles that they may remain sustainable as wildlife habitat and as carbon-sink providers. They warn of the symptoms of overcutting with tractor-driven machinery.
Landowners are not paid to cut annually in such a manner, but are free to do so while claiming substantial 'greening practice' subsidies from the public purse. As your constituent, I find this unacceptable.
Standing by any action you may take in securing a future for the hedgerow environment, I urgently seek your assurance that the disaster looming in population declines and carbon overload as a direct result of hedgerow mis-management is worthy of your serious and immediate attention.
Please respond to this letter, I hope with affirmation of intent to introduce policies protecting against wholesale destruction of rural habitat before losses reach the point of cascade failure. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards,
[Your name and signature]
Writing with concern regarding maintenance and management of hedgerows in the UK, populations of wildlife continue to diminish drastically from once-healthy numbers of songbirds, insects and small mammals. A trending practice of cutting to the same height every autumn is perpetually removing forage, winter cover, and nest sites for the following year. Some landowners cut again in early spring. You have doubtless seen the result in driving around the countryside.
Natural England, Hedgelink, Science Direct, Agricology and CPRE clearly advise hedges be permitted to retain growth from the previous season in order that they may flower and fruit, to preferably cut in rotational cycles that they may remain sustainable as wildlife habitat and as carbon-sink providers. They warn of the symptoms of overcutting with tractor-driven machinery.
Landowners are not paid to cut annually in such a manner, but are free to do so while claiming substantial 'greening practice' subsidies from the public purse. As your constituent, I find this unacceptable.
Standing by any action you may take in securing a future for the hedgerow environment, I urgently seek your assurance that the disaster looming in population declines and carbon overload as a direct result of hedgerow mis-management is worthy of your serious and immediate attention.
Please respond to this letter, I hope with affirmation of intent to introduce policies protecting against wholesale destruction of rural habitat before losses reach the point of cascade failure. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards,
[Your name and signature]
