Why oh why do people who trim hedges massacre the tender shoots of Spring ?
In Ireland the cutting of hedges is forbidden by law between March 1st and August 31st.- yet in the last few weeks the hedgrow on the lane-way I walk on every day has been manicured to within an inch of its life !
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| "Lane way to the Wicklow Hills " watercolour |
The wild damson trees where I gathered fruit for delicious damson jelly last Autumn have been mutilated - all laid to waste . There ill be no fruit or blossoms this year - nor for quite a few years to come- if ever. 
This laneway beside my house is edged on one side by a typical Irish hedgerow with lovely wild blackthorn and a mix of hawthorn, elder, wild damson, honeysuckle and brambles.
Blackthorn, if allowed to thrive, grows into the most lovely small tree - sturdy and gracefully covered in spring with millions of white blossoms, the flowers which appear before the leaves, are among the first to be seen in hedgerows from late February to early March,
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| 'Lane way to the Wicklow hills ' Acrylic by Trudi Doyle |
These 'heralds of spring' attract early insects to pollinate them. The flowers produce nectar for bumblebees and early-flying small tortoiseshell butterflies.
In autumn and winter they are laden with sloes - round blueish black berries with a whitish powdery bloom can be used to make sloe gin and sloe jelly and have a damson-like (but incredibly bitter!) flavour.
Blackthorns are nesting sites for birds such as blackbirds, song thrushes, finches, and wood pigeons.
In autumn and winter they are laden with sloes - round blueish black berries with a whitish powdery bloom can be used to make sloe gin and sloe jelly and have a damson-like (but incredibly bitter!) flavour.
Blackthorns are nesting sites for birds such as blackbirds, song thrushes, finches, and wood pigeons.
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| "Blackbirds Nest" Watercolour |
Hawthorns are often known as Whitethorn or Mayblossom and in Irish "Sceach geal". They blossom in May or earlier and come in two colours - white and less commonly red.
All are now cut to the base - I can wave good bye to the possibility of blossoms and berries.and I wonder where the birds will nest ? Why ?
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| "The Yellow Kite " Acrylic |
I regularly walk my dog on Eagle Hill lane too -virtually unchanged since my childhood -where I played and searched for birds nests. Its verges have always been lush with wild flowers, plants, ferns and a wide variety of shrubs and trees, including a row of ancient Hazel trees.
Last week I saw the hedgerow along the lane damaged irrevocably by a wholesale mutilation - the row of Hazels roughly felled and the rest of the ancient hedges chopped, ripped and torn.
Someone took a chain saw or, more likely, a tractor mounted mechanical cutter to these poor trees with violence - irrevocably damaging a natural habitat.
As I walked there I heard the evening songs of many small birds coming from the discarded piles of felled timber ......
