Cornish hedges are best in UK for wildlife
10:11am Monday 9th July 2012 in News
A huge survey of Cornish hedges across farms in West Penwith has shown them to be the best in the UK for wildlife.
Last summer's survey was part of Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Wild Penwith project and residents have been asked to join ecologist, Dr Jan Dinsdaleto discuss the findings at a special evening event.
Funded largely by the Big Lottery Fund, 25 Wild Penwith Hedge Volunteers gathered information about the range of wildlife associated with hedges. The volunteers were trained by the trust and used national survey methods to collect information, not just about the wildlife, but also about the landscape value and history of the hedges.
Jan said: “Our local stone or stone-faced hedge banks are one of the most appealing and cherished features of West Cornwall’s landscape providing glorious, colourful displays of wildflowers, such as foxgloves, bluebells and red campion. But we wanted to find out how they measured up, in terms of their wildlife value, to the classic hedgerow; the row of trees and shrubs which border fields throughout much of the UK.”
Cornish hedges scored higher than all of the other regions in terms of their condition and management for wildlife and highest for the numbers of animals spotted in the hedge, from mammals to invertebrates. No other region of the UK scored statistically higher than Cornwall in any of the survey categories.’ If you would like to hear more there will be an evening talk on Thurs, July 19 from 7pm to 9pm in Sancreed Village Hall or visit www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/hedgesurvey.
