Hedges!

Monday 31st January 2022

I have a research project to do for one of my modules this semester and have been working out what I am going to do! I think I have got it today (after going to look at some more hedges!) and my lecturer also thinks its OK - which is important! There is a nectar hunger gap in March for pollinators which can be filled by Blackthorn flowers (earliest flowering hedgerow bush in the UK). But there is a difference in hedgerow management - see above, the one on the left is next to a public footpath within agricultural land and is not flailed, the one on the right is also next to a public footpath on agricultural land but was flailed last autumn. I will be counting blackthorn flowers in March to see the difference in nectar production. I shall be really interested in the results.