Oxfordshire farmer wants to create UK network of hedgerows

IN September 2016, farmer Robert Crocker announced his ambition to grow a hedgerow from his farm near Eynsham to his brother’s farm in St Gennys, Cornwall.

Three years on and he is still encouraging farmers across the country to help save the UK's endangered wildlife.

However the plan has now changed: instead of a hedgerow from Eynsham to Cornwall, he is now aiming for a network crossing the whole country.

It is already working in many parts of the country and although he admits 'it is a bit wacky', he is quick to add: "So far no-one has had a bad word to say about it.”

He explains: “It’s going very well, but we still haven’t joined enough dots."

Since initiating the project on his own 650-acre mixed organic farm in Freeland, he says he has noticed a significant increase in the amount of wildlife – for example the return of skylarks to the farm.

He goes on: “Insect numbers are collapsing for a whole host of reasons, but there is a need for urgency from farmers to do whatever we can to redress a situation that we have, over decades, contributed to.”

For those who don’t own acres of land, conservationists have found there is plenty that can be done to help wildlife in urban areas as well.

Experts point out that every urban garden, hanging basket or flower pot helps create a joined-up network for species.

Mr Crocker, who is also a trustee of the West Oxfordshire conservation scheme the Wychwood Project, hopes that all farmers can also join together 'whatever they’ve got' to a wood or stream to help spread the wildlife as no-one has quite joined it all together yet.

A major part of his pitch to fellow farmers is explaining how hedgerows are 'natural capital' which provide countless unseen and intangible benefits.

All he is asking most famers to do is simple – just stop cutting back hedgerows.

The hedges cut last year, he explains, bear few or no flowers, as most species produce blossom on last year’s growth.

Annual cutting means no blossom, no pollen, no nectar and no berries.

This in turn means no sustenance for millions of pollinators vital to much agriculture, such as bees and butterflies, but also no food for myriad small mammals, birds and insects.

Mr Crocker is not suggesting to farmers that they stop cutting their hedges completely, but just look at 10 per cent and look for the best fruiting leaves and then leave that section for two or three years and watch how the diverse range of species increases.

Ideally he said he would like to get the government involved and supporting the idea in order to join up the environmental schemes, to connect wildlife across the country.

Enthusiastic articles have also now been printed, supporting this simple quest, by the RSPB, the Soil Association and The National Farmers Union.

Mr Crocker will be at this year's Wychwood Forest Fair at Cornbury on September 1, urging people to join his campaign.

He says: "Every farmer should have a wiggle of wildlife running through their farm."

See hedgelink.org.uk