Written by Pauline Kidner
Charity Founder and Advisor
With the days getting shorter and the cold weather starting to arrive, most wildlife is concentrating on getting ready for winter. Territories are not so clearly defined during this time as food becomes scarce. Many of the hedges around the fields are being cut, taking away the last vestiges of berries and fruit that could help support wildlife. I was amused to read in the newspaper last week that holly was often planted in hedgerows because, according to folklore, it stops witches from flying through or along the hedge top. Thank goodness Halloween is over!
Hedges are such an important habitat for wildlife, often creating corridors that allow species to move from one habitat to another. Reserves that become isolated do not allow a changing gene pool to keep the animals healthy. Many hedges have been removed to make fields larger, making it easier to work with bigger machinery. Sadly, this has led to a decline in many species. Badgers walk the same paths through their territories generation after generation, often using them as a means of marking boundaries with dung pits.
In large fields, badgers may appear to walk across open land and mark it, but this is only because a hedge once stood there, and they still use that line as a territorial boundary. Every animal has a territory, and when we take away fields for development, we put at risk the animals that have lived and foraged there. They can’t simply move into another field, because that area already belongs to others who hold the territory—fighting then occurs, and only the strongest survive.
In the last 50 years, in Britain alone, we have lost enough hedgerow to go around the circumference of the world twice. I was told about a golf course that has recently been sold and approved for planning—1,500 new homes will be built there. A 50-hole badger sett sits in the middle of that golf course. One can only imagine the devastation this development will cause.
If we had to capture every animal dependent on an area for food in order to survive—and then had to kill them—we might better understand the true cost of development, whether for industry or new housing. There are ways to ensure that wildlife can live alongside new buildings. Why can’t new houses on estates have nesting bricks and bat boxes fitted? Why can’t hedgehog highways be created in the fences around the houses? Why can’t new roads be tree-lined to combat carbon emissions? Maintained grass areas for play, recreation, and exercise would benefit residents while also providing foraging grounds for insects and worms that support displaced wildlife.
An example of what we have done at our centre is the hedge that was laid in 2021. The following year’s growth and flowering created a wonderful mix of plants that provide food for insects and birds alike. The aim is to increase this kind of habitat as we build new enclosures and aviaries for our casualties—giving them screening while also supporting our resident wildlife population. If only this approach could be adopted in new developments—it would reduce damage and, hopefully, offer a safer future for insects, birds, and mammals.
