Hedge-banks, berries, and birds

Hedgebanks and the Year of the Devon Hedge

In contrast to hedgerows in other parts of Britain, the Devon hedge consists of an earth bank, faced with stone or turf, which usually has bushy shrubs growing along the top.  For the true Devonian, such structures are known as hedges even when there are no shrubs.  They are characteristically very old, and rich in wildlife, as well as being visually attractive.

The construction of hedge-banks was highly skilled, locally using 'pobbles' as facing, with an infilling of soil.  

Erosion of a hedgebank in Stony Lane reveals the characteristic
construction, with the largest 'pobbles' at the bottom.

Devon has more hedges remaining than any other county in the UK - reflecting not just its large size, but also its pastoral landscape and favourable management and agricultural systems adopted by local farmers.  Devon County Council estimates that there are 33,000 miles of hedges still in the county, which - incredibly - includes about 20% of all the species-rich hedges left in the UK.  In many areas, Devon hedgebanks are a main refuge for a wide range of plants and are essential wildlife corridors for animals, so their successful conservation is critical for wildlife.  The Western Morning News recently ran a very interesting story, for example, pointing out the significance of Devon hedges and copses as highways and larders for bats.

A great deal of really excellent information on Devon hedges is available here and here on the Devon County Council website, including a very good overview and history.

2014 has been declared in the County as the Year of the Devon Hedge, and there is a programme of events and trainings continuing right through till the end of the year - see here for information.

The banks and verges of lanes are increasingly essential for the survival of wild flowers excluded from fields by modern farming practices.  Countryside historian Oliver Rackham describes these verges as:

"... old grassland of a peculiar and often rather unstable kind, traditionally grazed and fertilised by the dung of passing beasts and by washings from the road surface.  They are not usually among the richest kinds of grassland, but they are important especially in those regions where old grassland of any kind is now rare.  In much of England, many ... verges are now the chief home of general grassland plants...  Few species are confined to verges, but many are commoner there than in other habitats."

The damp shady environment of hedges and banks also create their "own microclimate for plants, especially ferns, and eco-linked insects and small mammals.

Local verge-cutting routines in Devon are increasingly contributing to the conservation of wild plant species, but nationally there is concern about management of roadsides.  The wild flower charity Plantlife is running a campaign to encourage local councils to manage roadsides better for nature conservation. For more details, see here.

Many hedges are legally protected from damage or destruction (see government environmental guidance here).  However, with changing styles and sizes of wheeled traffic, together with altered weather patterns, banks and verges are at increasing risk of erosion unless they are maintained.  Exposure of the underlying construction of banks leads to degradation of the soil, and to stones and soil being washed out, further compromising the integrity of the bank.

Erosion of a bank in Stony Lane causing degradation 
of the structure.

Further examples of erosion in Stony Lane (above) 
and Dog Lane (below)

For those of us habituated to our lanes being so scoured, it is perhaps difficult to really understand the changes that have come in recent years.  For a step back in time, it is worth visiting the little-used lane that runs between White Cross Road at Higher Greendale, and Sanctuary Lane.  This passes Winkleigh Farm, which is of very ancient origin.  Here the carriageway is narrow, but the verges are wide with a rich diversity of plant-life.  It is hard to imagine that, within one lifetime, all the lanes around the village were like this.

Lane and ford near Winkleigh Farm - a step back in time.

Hedgerow harvest

On a brighter note, this year has been excellent for many characteristic hedgerow berrying plants.  Excellent guides to autumn berries, both edible and definitely not, are available here from the Wild Food School in Cornwall, and from the British Trust for Ornithology.

Blackberries

Rose-hips

Sloes (fruit of the black-thorn)

Immature ivy berries

Wild privet

Black bryony: the berries of this vine-like plant are superficially 
similar to rose hips, but are highly poisonous.  They are seen 
here together - the rose hips are the three at the bottom right.

At ground level, the berries of Lords-and-Ladies (or Cuckoo pint) 
are also highly toxic to humans.

These white berries in an otherwise native hedge in Stony Lane 
are the garden plant Snowberry.

Birds

Robins are very voluble at the moment - did you know that they are the only birds to sing in the autumn?  In fact, they sing throughout almost the whole year.  The renowned ornithologist, David Lack, tells us that the robin has a spring song that starts near the end of December and continues to about the middle of June.  Its autumn song - which is poorer and less innovative in its range of notes and phrases - is first heard in late July from some of the young birds, with adults starting about a fortnight later. It continues in this feeble form until the spring song starts again. Thus the robin sings throughout the year, except for a gap in the summer, though even this is often closed by a late adult or early juvenile.  The main purpose of its song is to define territory and warn off rivals, even at this time of year, long before the breeding season.  Robins are very territorial, and known to fight to the death over boundary disputes.

[Information from David Lack's book, Life of the Robin]

Another bird of note at the moment is the willow-warbler, still singing despite normally being only a summer visitor.  In fact both this and the black-cap warbler are known sometimes to over-winter in this area, due to the warmer climate.

In recent weeks, swallows have been gathering on telephone wires for migration, but there are still some about, possibly juveniles using the warm weather to build up and store insect food as fat for fuel for their long journey. 

On warm days, blackbirds can often be heard 'rehearsing' their spring songs, in which they adopt an almost inaudible mumble of the real thing.  But the beautiful tones cannot be disguised, despite their attempts to hide it!

Sunken lanes : White Cross Road, Stony Lane, and Dog Lane

Sunken section of White Cross Road at Copse Hill,
 looking north towards Greendale Business Park.

With many hedges now cut back and road verges trimmed, this is a good time for noticing the characteristic features of our lanes.   Their courses and alignments become clearer, with their seemingly erratic, winding nature and inexplicable right-angle bends.  

Right-angled bend in Stony Lane

Lanes are an integral part of the landscape that have evolved through immense social and agricultural changes over many centuries.  It is easy to overlook the fact that they are often among the oldest historical man-made features of a locality.

The acclaimed landscape historian and Devonian, WG Hoskins, suggested that the present network of lanes largely emerged between about 1150 and 1350, during the Medieval colonisation of Devon and the reclamation of waste- and heath-land.  Across Devon at that period, lanes linked thousands of new farms to each other and to the main highways, and gave access to cultivated areas.  They ran between small irregular fields, great hedge-banks, and isolated farmsteads.  This picture certainly fits our own local history, and still determines the pattern of our landscape today.

Oliver Rackham, another important countryside historian, relates how users of these lanes were often obliged, over long periods, to avoid obstacles such as fallen trees, or holes in and along the highway, so that these 'diversions' then became the permanent, winding ways.  

[Information sourced from W G Hoskins, Devon, and The Making of the English Countryside.  See also Francis Pryor, The Making of the British Countryside]

Sunken lanes : "Landmarks that speak of habit, 

rather than suddenness."*

Sunken lanes, or holloways, are roads or tracks which are significantly lower than the land on either side.  Generally they result from centuries of erosion of unpaved roads on soft underlying soil and rock.  Their development depends partly on topography - they form most easily on slopes - and partly on geology.  Sunken lanes are usually of very great age - well-developed holloways take at least 3oo  years to form, according to Oliver Rackham.  Over time, the traffic of humans, animals and vehicles loosens the surface of the track and prevents vegetation from holding it, and rainwater carries away the debris. 

The particularly Devonian feature of hedge-banks also add to the sense of depth of sunken lanes.  Such banks often date from the same Medieval period of colonisation, but some may be even earlier, alongside ancient trackways.  They will be discussed more fully in the next blog post.

Good examples of such stretches of road are Stony Lane and Dog Lane, the part of White Cross Road known as Copse Hill, and Deepway on the road to Woodbury.

The field level behind the hedge along White Cross Road
at Copse Hill (indicated above) is almost at head-height,
with the hedge itself adding to the overall depth of the lane.
This hedge is also very thick (see below at a field entrance), 
which suggests great age.

Stony Lane is clearly below the level of adjoining fields at the
White Cross Road junction, and also has hedge-banks.

A length of fence above head-height indicates the depth of the lane.

In places the bank is topped with gorse.  This is an indicator of 

great age, as it was planted for animal feed centuries ago.

The entrance to Dog Lane from White Cross Road is also well
below the level of the adjoining fields, as shown by the height
of the maize crop above the hedge-bank.

In his book The Wild Places, contemporary nature writer Robert Macfarlane writes lyrically about such holloways:

"I find holloways humbling, for they are landmarks that speak of habit rather than suddenness.  Trodden by innumerable feet, cut by innumerable wheels, they are the records of journeys to market, to worship, to sea.  Like creases in the hand, or the wear on the stone sill of a doorstep or stair, they are the consequence of tradition, of repeated action.  Like old trees - the details of whose spiralling and kinked branches indicate the wind history of a region, and whose growth rings record each year's richness or poverty of sun - they archive the past customs of a place.  Their age chastens without crushing."

[*Accessed at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3667487/A-lost-wilderness.html]

Such 'landmarks of habit', are noticeable everywhere. Field entrances are often very good examples....

A field entrance on Dog Lane at the junction with Walkidons Way,

showing the difference in level between the lane and adjoining farmland.

...  as are animal tracks, too!