PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
I hope you'll forgive. I'm not soap boxing or lecturing but there seems to be an interest in the insect subject. This isn't a rant about my neighbour, it illustrates the issue.
Below are two photos of the hedgerow bottom at the top of my garden, one is mine, the other my neighbour. Habitat destruction and chemical use means nothing has grown under my neighbour's hedge for seven years. This hedgerow is about 600 metres long and ends one metre from the edge of a small wood. Apart from this one strip the rest is like mine. About 15 feet from my neighbour's strip there is a large oak tree with a resident owl.
We still have a lot of wildlife in the village though this is declining. Hedgehogs, mice, voles, rats, various amphibians, bird life, insect, etc. We have top predators for the very local area - owls.
The hedgerow is a super highway for all these creatures helping them move safely from one area to another. It provides cover and safety along with breeding grounds, food etc. But if you're a little vole and suddenly have to break cover with an owl looking down? Basically you're done for.
This is what habitat destruction does. When this little strip is amplified across tens of thousands of acres it's easy to understand the issue. What my neighbour chose to do is unnecessary and very sadly we're making those same decisions all over the world on a far bigger scale.
Below are two photos of the hedgerow bottom at the top of my garden, one is mine, the other my neighbour. Habitat destruction and chemical use means nothing has grown under my neighbour's hedge for seven years. This hedgerow is about 600 metres long and ends one metre from the edge of a small wood. Apart from this one strip the rest is like mine. About 15 feet from my neighbour's strip there is a large oak tree with a resident owl.
We still have a lot of wildlife in the village though this is declining. Hedgehogs, mice, voles, rats, various amphibians, bird life, insect, etc. We have top predators for the very local area - owls.
The hedgerow is a super highway for all these creatures helping them move safely from one area to another. It provides cover and safety along with breeding grounds, food etc. But if you're a little vole and suddenly have to break cover with an owl looking down? Basically you're done for.
This is what habitat destruction does. When this little strip is amplified across tens of thousands of acres it's easy to understand the issue. What my neighbour chose to do is unnecessary and very sadly we're making those same decisions all over the world on a far bigger scale.
