Hedgerow planting

100 years ago, the landscape at The Hydes would have looked a little different to the large open fields that we have today. Many of the big fields would have been divided into smaller ones by a network of hedges and ditches. After the 2nd World War up until the 80's. Along with many other farmers during that period, the previous owner ripped out the hedges and levelled many of the ditches to make the large open fields that we farm today. Although at the time this was probably quite damaging to the wildlife on the farm, it did make it much more practical for the large scale farming that we practise today.

During the last 10 - 15 years, as we have increased the area designated to encourage wildlife, we have seen numbers of farmland birds and mammals grow to a healthy population. Every year we are seeing new species arriving back on the farm and we believe we can demonstrate that large scale farming, with big fields can be good for wildlife. We still always try to do more to increase the food sources and habitats available. Over the last five years we have planted 2,500 metres of new hedgerows, plus another 500 metres have gone in this winter. We have tried to plant them strategically so that we can provide new habitats around our wildlife corridors without compromising the efficiency of our large machines.