Murmurings

 I have a great friend who rants and gets into a real tizz about the way hedgerows are managed by farmers. She writes to the local paper and has been known to stop contractors in their tracks and question them as to why they are cutting hedges back so roughly rather than laying them in the good old fashioned way.

I am with her every step of the way, probably more so since the old farmer with land around us passed away a couple of years ago. His rented land , after over 75 years in one family, now has new tenants, charged by the local estate who own it with bringing everything into the 21st century. Two years ago the hedges on fields on our side of the road were chopped away. We felt exposed and vulnerable. Our road was always a bit hidden and overgrown and people whizzed past our house without even seeing it. But life moves on and the new hedges are settling in and growing better but the downside has been the complete disappearance of ground nesting yellowhammers in our garden. Already a red data list species, we've gone from a healthy winter population to no winter population as their habitat has been lost. Similarly we no longer enjoy the constant hoots of tawny owls at night as much as we used to. It is definitely a case of winners and losers.

 And then just after Christmas the contractors started on the other side of the road. It's poor land, very marshy and boggy, but the estate have found someone to take it on with free rent provided they cut the trees on the roadside boundaries. In one afternoon we lost all of the cover we have had for over 16 years and it has taken some getting used to despite knowing that some of the trees were rotten and failing.

 In truth, the house is lighter and the sudden loss of so many old trees has meant even more birds in our garden. Every morning we delight in four or five jays feeding together as a group, obviously missing their daily roost somewhere. Buzzards are more frequent and so is the sight of red kites overhead, but it is late afternoon where we notice the greatest difference.

 We've always enjoyed large numbers of starlings flying overhead to their  night time roost in the winter. They congregate in their thousands each day at the massive farm half a mile down the road and swoop over about 4pm.... except that since the trees came down they've taken to stopping off in the trees in front of the house and in the garden. I start to hear a noise and look up to see them land in my favourite ash tree, building in numbers.

 Very soon they are everywhere, on the ground, in the trees, in the air and the noise is deafening.

As soon as I open my back door for a better look they are off like lightning and the noise of their wings as they take off en masse is quite thrilling. Watching them duck and dive together in the field is also one of natures wonders but lots of birds mean a lot of mess so whilst we're enjoying this as a benefit of the hedges and trees being cut it takes some getting used to.

I've yet to tell my friend what they've done but she's coming over next week and I know she will be horrified. I'm thinking of making her arrive at 4pm and hope she will be taken by the spectacle in the air and not see the one on the ground!

POSTSCRIPT

For those that have asked me, let me tell you that my friend had steam coming out of her ears when she came yesterday. In the meantime my husband had visited the estate office to find that a tree survey should have been done before the cutting so whilst there were apologies all round that the contractor went ahead too soon, the deed has been done. Someone has been back to tidy up the whole roadside boundary but what is lost is lost. I try to be philosophical as it is not our land and we do not have any rights over how it is managed. In small communities like ours you want to keep people working with you, not against. The field contained within has been a bog for years but now the trees are gone it is going to be drained so I wait to see what happens next.
In the meantime the starlings have stopped meeting in our ash tree en route to the overnight roost but they are gathering in larger and larger numbers and you can time the afternoon fly past to within a few minutes either way. My friend stayed to see it and thought it wonderful leaving us both being philosophical about the outcomes of change.