Thank you for sharing!

It's a brilliant read ☺️ The illustrations are such a lovely addition too

Great idea. Nice interview with author here: podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/i...

Thanks Sue! Great to meet you online ☺️

Hello! We don't have a structured online course, but there are some videos linked on www.hedgerows.ie/resources.

I also recommend the hedgelink.org.uk website and following @favcolourgreen.bsky.social for more hedgerow management tips!

I totally agree.
I don’t know how to do those tech lists.
I’ve been farming with nature for several decades.
I’m happen to be one of 50 Irish farmers who took part & wrote a small piece in the new “Farming With Nature Handbook”.
Here’s the list of environmentally aware farmers inside the book cover

Lovely to meet you, Suzanna! We're big fans of Farming for Nature and have been lucky to meet and attend several farm walks with other Ambassadors in the last couple of years. Congratulations on the handbook! It's absolutely brilliant

Here are some links!

🔹️ Reports of EIP projects (incl. agri-enviro ones such as Protecting Farmland Pollinators which had focused on hedgerows): www.gov.ie/en/service/1...

🔹️ Farming for Nature: www.farmingfornature.ie

🔹️ Local Authority Biodiversity Officers: www.heritagecouncil.ie/our-work-wit...

Luckily, there are more agri-enviro schemes, farmers & Local Authorities now trying to change things to make nature-friendly hedgerow management the norm! Farming for Nature is a great example of farmers leading the way for wildlife. The Biodiversity & Heritage Officers are also brilliant in LAs!

It's a mix of road safety, past area-based policy incentives (smaller hedges = more productive land = higher grants), social norms of what's considered a neat hedge, ease of machinery use which allows for more intensive agriculture, & other factors. Luckily, there are more schemes [continued below]

Billhooks, axes, pruning saws & loppers are the most frequently used hand tools. If you're thinking of doing training anyway, we recommend not buying lots of tools beforehand! The trainers usually have ones you can borrow & you can try out different ones/get advice before spending money on your own

The new hedge might not grow as well due to shade from the older ones. You could space them far enough that there's a wildflower area in between with room to manage each hedge. Otherwise, you could transition the area into a taller, wider linear woodland rather than a routinely managed hedgerow

Coppicing has its place in rejuvenating gappier hedgerows, but it's a much more invasive process than hedge laying. The hedgerow takes longer to return to a functioning wildlife habitat. If coppicing is the best option, it can be paired with infill planting using trees of local Provenance

This is such a creative idea! The best advent calendar we've seen 🐦