From ROBIN LEWANDO
I work in a large organisation that circulates its one copy of New Scientist
to all who want to see it, so there is no surprise when it is months late.
Thus it is that on the same day I read both of Ariadne’s demise, and the
piece she wrote deploring the use of hedge trimmers (25 January). They are
a pet complaint of mine left over from my former rural life.
In the long term, flail hedge trimmers appear to cause deformation of
hedgerow shrubs regularly subjected to them. They become all top and little
bottom, providing a very poor barrier to stock and also being of little
effect as a windbreak or shelter. This depends both on the species of shrub
that is trimmed, and the time of year that the trimming takes place, but
in any event is far more damaging than the layering that was traditionally
practised. I have noted many stretches of hedgerow that are dying prematurely.
In addition to the trimming of hedges, and equally deplorable, is the
use of flails to trim roadside verges through the spring and summer months
by contractors engaged by local councils. This can be understood when verdant
growth threatens the safety of rural highways at corners, entrances and
junctions, and in all fairness some areas do only trim the inside of bends
and each side of junctions. But the widespread practice of trimming verges
over long, straight stretches of road during May and June can have no justification.
I have repeatedly written to local councils arguing against the waste of
money, loss of rural attraction, threat to local communities of flowering
plants and destruction of what can be a relatively safe and untouched habitat
in summer months.
Robin Lewando Langport, Somerset
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