Wilding or rewilding schemes

The Australian bush fires can be devastating, especially for wildlife, but the bush does regenerate and some trees need fire to be able to do that.

nanna8

Sounds a bit weird. My immediate thought was, what if you get bushfires ,especially if the place is warming up? I remember my grandma’s farm years ago used to have wild primroses everywhere. So beautiful. It was way off the beaten track and my cousins ,who also lived there, used to get very excited if they ever saw a car. You had to drive across fields to get to their farm.

We get wildfires in the UK

I think the worst thing is that often these fires are lit deliberately, and in Australia too.

Years ago we saw someone deliberately setting fire to a common in the south-east, luckily we were able to hastily retreat and someone was already phoning the emergency services from the phone in the car park (that was before mobile phones).

nanna8 We do not get bush fires in the UK. We sometimes get fires on area of open moor - which have few hedges - but these are usually contained to within a couple of hundred acres, but fires on ordinary farmland - no.

Some hedges in Britain date back 1,000 years or more. Don't get me started on this. The history and archaeology of the countryside has been my passion for over 50 years.

It’s very interesting, I must seek out some local pictures and maps to find out more.

I just found an old map online from 1800 with the hedge clearly marked, so at least 224 years old 🙂

Sounds a bit weird. My immediate thought was, what if you get bushfires ,especially if the place is warming up? I remember my grandma’s farm years ago used to have wild primroses everywhere. So beautiful. It was way off the beaten track and my cousins ,who also lived there, used to get very excited if they ever saw a car. You had to drive across fields to get to their farm.

Interesting, M0nica.
I have no idea how old our hedge is and was surprised that it could be that old. It may be, of course.

Casdon There is no argument that older hedges will have more species, but Hoopers hypothesis was based on hedgerows containing only one species when they were planted - a hawthorn hedge, for example. He thought that different areas of the country had different hedging traditions and his hypotheis did work well for the hedges at the research establishment he worked for.

Bt it is now realised that different hedging traditons can be found all over the place, that, for example, if there was a wood nearby then a selection of plants from the wood, would be used rather than just hawthorn.

In our village, we could see very clearly where the open fields had been because he hedges within them had far fewer species than those lining old roads and paths and around cleared areas of woodland.

M0nica

Sadly, Hoopers Rule has been disproved. It is a great shame because about 30 years ago a group of us did a complete survey of all the hedgess in our parish. However the work was not wasted because it shows how groups of hedgerows with similar species in them could be indetified and we were able to indetify all the pre-enclosure open fields because the species in the hedges was entirely different to those in the hedges that surrounded the open fields

That’s interesting Monica. The one near me is on a drover’s road, so it’s definitely very old because it’s in old pictures, but maybe not 500 years. It does have different species to other hedges locally, that’s why I have to take pictures to identify what things are, it’s strange that they don’t seem to seed themselves very readily in nearby hedges - or maybe they do, but it takes many years for them to become dominant.

Sadly, Hoopers Rule has been disproved. It is a great shame because about 30 years ago a group of us did a complete survey of all the hedgess in our parish. However the work was not wasted because it shows how groups of hedgerows with similar species in them could be indetified and we were able to indetify all the pre-enclosure open fields because the species in the hedges was entirely different to those in the hedges that surrounded the open fields

Feel it's a bit of a jimmick/fashion craze. All things in moderation!

I'm amazed! This was farmland and very few hedges remain. It has blackberry in it too, does that count?

I haven't checked for any unusual insects.

That’s right Callistemon21. The one near me has some unusual plants in and underneath it, I’ve been known to photograph those I don’t recognise and look them up, one I can remember was the bird cherry ermine moth, which took a bit of tracking down.

If calculating the age of a native hedge by counting each species in a 30 yard stretch of the hedge is correct (Hooper's Rule) , ours must be 690 years old. If the ivy is added in too, then 800 years old!

There’s a lovely hedge near me that is over 500 years old Monica, you can apparently tell by the number of different native species in it - in the scheme of things I guess 27 years isn’t very long at all.
I’m all for rewilding, even if it’s managed. I don’t know how many people have visited the gardens at Highgrove, if not it’s really worth a visit, if only to see the stump garden, which is an excellent example.

27 years on.

As a matter of curiousity 27 years ago when qwe moved o our current house I decided to let a piece of lawn about 20 foot square rewild.

It has been a very depressing experience as one after the other coarse bully plants have taken over. In fact several times I have interfered. I pulled out all the nettles when the project started, later on I pulled a lot of buttercup up and for the last 10 years I have deadheaded most of the dandelions.

"7 years on, what do I have? a 20foot square of scrub and course plants. I have yet to see any kind of plant that is unusual

Totally agree if it is carried out intellectually and knowledgeably. Ideally the grass shouldn’t need cutting as it should be food for the wildlife etc.
BALANCE so difficult to culture.
But majority of people then complain when their plants and vegetables get eaten
The plants that move in tend to be the unfavourable and disproportionate such as brambles nettles etc because it lacks balance

It's true that the term rewilding is being misused to describe what should be better described as managed nature.
Rewilding isn't something that is done to make somewhere look pretty; it's for replacing some of the damaged habitats and allowing species to survive. That includes some pretty things but a lot more bugs and creepy crawlies

We have a re-wilding scheme near us of 3600 acres - Knepp -
which as been outstandingly successful.

The increase in biodiversity is enormous and this wealth is obvious as you enter the area.

Of course it is managed, but only to the extent that it can encourage nature to recover and show us what she is capable of given the chance.

So untold species are now thriving - think warm summer nights and glow worms, nightingales, owls etc. Think spring and the clattering of returning storks wild flowers and young animals, like the ancient long horn breed. Think hot summer days and purple emperors and myriad bees and flowers. Beavers doing their thing providing habitat for so many species, who in turn provide food for the birds etc.

Honestly - it is an absolute joy - it should be emulated wherever possible.

Rewilding to me is claiming back land that had previously been either industrial or mining use. We live in a semi rural area of mixed farming and woodland but which had also until the 1980s, been mined for coal. Those mines, now closed, have water which percolates to the surface and stagnates. We now have, on our doorstep, a burgeoning reed bed that serve to sweeten the water and also provide a habitat for birds such as reed warblers, water fowl, and for dragonflies. It’s a great joy to see the reed warblers visit annually, form pairs and nest. They are shy birds and sensitive to human disturbance. Some of the land has also been left as natural heath and scrub and stands of silver birch. There are other such rewilding projects in similar areas.

We've very large areas of grasses, wild flowers some parts to the year, mowed down 2 times a year, I find it quite pretty.

Germanshepherdsmum

I agree that rewilding isn’t just leaving the land to do what it wants - management is necessary.

It takes far more management to "wild" or "rewild" an area than to keep it tidy with grass, shrubs and other perennials.

There's a large wild area near a new housing estate near here - very pretty when the wildflowers were all out but now a complete mess and full of dog poo from irresponsible dog owners.

Half the oak trees in our native woodlands were planted by Jays. I love this.

I think and hope that children growing up today will have a much better understanding of the natural world than my generation had.

What saddens me is when Councils sprinkle wildflower seeds to prettify roundabouts not knowing or caring that these non native seeds are not food for the native wildlife.

Daffodils may look nice but again the bees prefer dandelions.
Rewilding definitely needs management.

Casdon

It’s alway been wild around me, the hedges go to the road, I can’t even think of a nearby grass verge. Hedge management is down to the relevant farmers, who chop them back three times a year so they don’t obscure the road. There are clippings left on the road afterwards, and we all regularly get flat tyres as a result, but I still count myself lucky.

You are lucky Casdon.. naturally wild places seem to be more varied and have a lovely long periods of renaturing of flowers etc.. the artificially constructed rewilding where I live ends up looking like dried grass for most of the year..