|
|
|
|
Foxgloves
against a stone wall - or hedge - on Dartmoor
|
The recent, in historical
terms, “Newtakes” had all their walls built that way. Grimspound often
comes up in conversation when discussing Dartmoor, that village or community
surrounded itself with a large granite wall, be it for defence, or security
against marauding beasts, or just to impound their domesticated stock
by night.
 |
|
Wildlife
adapts hedges for protection
against predators
|
It is possible that
Grimspound was only used during the summer months for extended summer
grazing. Wildlife has learnt to adapt hedges for its own benefit, using
them for protection, nesting, breeding sites, feeding stations and as
highways for moving about from place to place under cover from their natural
predators.
The plant life that has colonised the hedges are food for the insects
and they, in turn, are food for birds and mammals. The fruits of the hedgerows
are food for birds, beasts and we humans too.
 |
|
A
Chaffinch making use of a stone hedge
|
What an asset a hedge
is for all, supplying food, timber, accommodation, and protection in the
form of defence and shelter.
As in those early days hedges are still used for property boundaries and
many parish boundaries still follow those old prehistoric reaves. Today
it is hedges, fences, walls or simply a line drawn on a map joining two
points that define the extent of property, perhaps our early ancestors
created their reaves for the very same reason!
There is a theory
that the age of a hedge can be calculated by counting the number of trees/shrubs
in a 30 yard length of hedge by using this equation: Age of hedge = 110
x number of species + 30.
 |
|
The
plant life that has colonised the hedges are food for the insects
and they, in turn, are food for birds and mammals
|
So a 12 species hedge
would be 1350 years old. Soil variations and locality can cause this to
vary slightly. A very simple rule-of-thumb could be about 100 years to
a species.
If you want to find out more there's a very good book I can suggest:-
Hedges by Pollard, Hooper and Moore, - The New Naturalist Series, Number
58.
Well time flies and that's it for yet another month - take care and come
back for another page or two of my Dartmoor Diary in mid-September.
If
you'd like to get in touch with Tony you can email him
at devon.online@bbc.co.uk
|
