Hedging

[poliphilo]

They say you can tell the age of a hedge from the number of species it contains- one species for every hundred years- but I don't believe it. The hedge I've just been clipping contains at least four and I know for a fact that my parents planted it and therefore it's between forty and fifty years old.

The species are privet, holly, elder and bramble. I'm also seeing isolated examples of rose, hawthorn and maple. I imagine my parents will have planted privet- perhaps privet and holly- but everything else will inserted itself.

The bumble bees were very busy around it. I trust them and they trust me. I nearly cut one of them in half by mistake but missed by a wing-beat. Oops.

Comments

[cmcmck]

It's the number of species of lichens that give a clue to hedgerow age and it only works for field boundary hedges created by traditional means.

Some of our local hedgerows have at least twenty hedge species and they're certainly not two thousand years old, but they do have five of six lichens and could easily be five of six hundred years old.

I've been amazed by the number of bee species in Shropshire lanes!

[poliphilo]

Ah, lichens! I must have mis-heard or mis-read.

They're saying bumble bees are engdangered. Not round here they ain't!

[oakmouse]

Whatever its age, it seems to be a very healthy ecosystem!

Bumble bees are such sweet creatures; they're very gentle and trusting. When we lived in Maryland and had a big garden, we routinely worked right alongside them with no problems, and enjoyed watching them.

[poliphilo]

I refuse to be scared of bees. If they sting us is almost always down to our own fault or clumsiness. And besides there are far worse things than a bee sting.

[oakmouse]

I went in terror of them when I was little because at age 2 I accidentally sat on one and got stung in a very painful place. But by the time I was about 7 or 8 I'd learned that they're not normally aggressive, and I would let them land on me and clamber over me without worrying. I haven't been stung since.