All around us, the hedgerows are disappearing at an alarming rate. The past three years or so, the farmers are digging up the hedges and chopping down trees so that was once enclosed fields are now prairies. 400 yards here, 500 yards there and there will be nothing remaining except the land.
Not only does this remove the windbreaks and hedges which held back snow from covering the roads but it is removing the homes of countless birds, bugs and animals. This probably accounts for why many people I have talked with, say that they have been plagued with mice.
To my eyes, these vast fields are nowhere near as pleasing as the smaller fields with hedgerows and trees and I do worry about the fauna. We have far fewer birds in the garden than we used to and Bees are few and far between.
The theory locally is that the Farmers are paid EU subsidies to remove the hedges but does anyone here have the definitive answer ?