I had a meeting a fortnight ago with one of my farming customers. We had presented him with his hedgerow management plan, as some 53km was set to come under our care. For the next five years we would lay or coppice, plant new, change cutting regimes and fill gaps. All this would be done at no little expense to him and considerable physical effort by Richard Gould and I. The sole reason for all of this cost and labour was to improve the biodiversity potential of our customer’s Norfolk farm. His ambition was admirable, to ensure these arteries of the landscape fill with bird life.
This bold and selfless step is not uncommon with farmers today, yet in this particular case the altruism was marked — more wild birds on this farm could spell total disaster for his business. My customer
