Living as I do in an area where field boundaries are dominated by drystone walls, I delight in coming across traditional natural hedges when I travel around the country. I also despair when I see evidence of hedging which has been destroyed, ancient nature runs bulldozed in minutes for the sake of ‘progress’.  Happy I was then to hear that Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) have just planted a series of new hedges at its Dunsdon National Nature Reserve to help restore a network of small fields that would have once been a feature of the landscape. The site, near Holsworthy, was planted up with locally produced native species including a mixture of hawthorn, ash, oak, hazel and rowan. As is traditional in Devon they will sit on hedge banks which were created last year. Gary Pilkington, DWT’s senior reserves officer, said: “These new hedges will provide essential wildlife corridors at these culm grassland sites. The hedges are replacing ones that were removed through agricultural changes in the years before DWT took charge of the land. We used Tithe maps from the early 1900s to work out exactly where the original hedges were located.” The project has been supported thanks to funding from the Tree Council’s Real Hedge Fund, working in conjunction with the National Hedgelaying Society and Stella Artois – I’ll drink to that.

It was nice to see a bit of greenery again at the weekend, although snow still dominates the scene in the higher Dales. One planned short walk turned into an even briefer outing as I made a quick about-turn after reaching waist-high drifts. Undeterred I headed for lower ground and took a stroll by the Leeds-Liverpool canal which skirts the Dales through some lovely countryside between Yorkshire and Lancashire. The water was frozen solid and ducks skidded towards me hopeful that my sandwiches were for sharing. The few hardy types who live on the boats and barges remained cheerful despite problems with frozen water supplies. One chap told me the temperature had dropped to -15 one night – the thermometer was inside his boat! Despite the weather there were many people using the canal paths proving what a useful amenity our waterways are. Many people may never have heard of the  Inland Waterways Association’s Waterway Recovery Group (WRG) but they do a tremendous job in restoring and maintaining our canals. This year they celebrate their 40th anniversary and will be running ‘canal camps’ throughout the country and anyone can join in - see www.wrg.org.uk

I have to admit to feeling more than a little embarrassed about being a Brit this week. While witnessing, via TV, the nation’s poor attempts to deal with snow and ice I’ve been thinking what a load of wimps we’ve become. Anyone watching from a country where they have real winters EVERY year, must be thinking the same way. How pleasing then it was for me on Sunday when I met up with an acquaintance  who lives in a small village in the Dales. It was the first time he’d been able to get out of the village in a week. He told me that being snowed in had brought all the residents together for the first time since he’d moved there. They helped each other out, looked after the elderly, cleared paths, shared food, met at the pub and he said no one was particularly bothered that they had been temporarily cut off from the outside world. Community spirit restored – they do say it’s an ill wind…

Photo shows the scene at our offices last week – glad to report our staff made an excellent effort to get into work throughout the worst of the weather.

If animals, birds and insects could talk they’d be no different from us in that the main topic of conversation would be the weather. Throughout 2009 excited weather enthusiasts have been telling us that each month has been the warmest, the wettest, the coldest or the strangest on record. How all this affects our wildlife is being constantly monitored by a variety of experts. The National Trust’s annual report on wildlife shows some interesting findings. They tell me that a reasonable summer with bouts of very warm weather has helped to avert a wildlife disaster after two extremely wet summers in 2007 and 2008. They report a better balance between the wildlife that has done well and species that have struggled to cope. Matthew Oates, a conservation advisor, says: “After two washout summers we’ve in many ways had a more traditional weather year, with an old fashioned cold winter and some hot and dry periods during the spring and summer. For many insects, and insect feeding birds and mammals, this year has been a saviour as they were being severely tested.”
However, some of our most familiar wildlife – including the iconic cuckoo and the common autumn cranefly, or daddy long legs – has continued to struggle. Some of the biggest winners and losers in 2009 were plants and trees. The cold snap in January and February checked growth or damaged boughs on trees, and then the warm wet spring and summer caused unusually rampant vegetation growth.
For a full report visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk