Farmer shows how traditional hedges can help bee population

A Westmeath farmer who practises the traditional art of hedge laying is featured on a TG4 documentary on the All Ireland Pollinator Plan being broadcast on World Bee Day, this Thursday, May 20.

James Ham from Moyvore is one of the last farmers in Westmeath to use the traditional technique to rejuvenate the hedges on his farm. He explains in the documentary, as Gaeilge, how hedge laying supports biodiversity.

Hedge laying is the art of cutting hedgerow stems partly through near ground level so that they will bend without breaking and will continue to grow. The laid stems are arranged to form a stock-proof barrier. New growth comes from the cut stump, rejuvenating the hedge and thickening up the base. A well laid hedge is also a habitat for many wild birds, plants and insects.

The technique was used by farmers all over the country before the mechanisation of agriculture, and James learned it from his father Eddie, who learned it from ‘Long’ Kelly, who James described as “journeyman” hedge layer.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, suckler farmer James says that while it is a weather-dependent and labour-intensive practice carried out between September and March, the lifespan of a hedge that is laid every 20 or 30 years can be extended almost indefinitely.

“It is feasible to do 100m every winter if you plan it properly. You don’t have to do it all on the one day or the one week. If you dedicate 10m a week over 20 weeks it’s possible to get a good bit done. If you are kind to a good hedge and you get it laid well, the response can be dramatic enough.”

In addition to rejuvenating the hedge and filling any gaps that may have developed over the years, James says that difference in the biodiversity in a hedge that is maintained using the practice of hedge laying compared to one that is heavily cut using a hedge flail is significant.

There is a place for the labour saving hedge flail when it comes to hedge maintenance, but it needs to used with care, he says. “It is very clear [the difference in biodiversity between a hedge that has been maintained by laying and one that has been maintained using a flail]. It needs to be seen to be understood fully. We [hedge layers] can see it clearly. When you are doing a hands-on job like hedge laying, you are in there at the base of the hedge and you are observing everything around you. “What you have is the greater number of plants in the hedge because of the way it was managed and then, obviously, if the structure is good, the habitat is there for the likes of small mammals and birds that use it.”

James says bees and other inspects reap the rewards after a hedge is laid.

“You’d be surprised throughout the year at the number of plants that grow in hedges when the work is done. There are wild flowers such as woundwort, there is meadow sweet, herb robert, parsley, the vetches and things like that. If the plants are plentiful and they are getting the sun’s energy, then they have more nectar and the insects and the wild bees like to visit them and they get a lot of their food from them.”

It is not just the bees and other wildlife that benefits from him practising hedge laying on his farm. He uses the wood that he cuts from the hedges to help heat his home and there are other advantages too, he says.

“It does so many jobs on the farm, not least of all the benefit to livestock from shelter. I am not going to give out about anyone, but I think some people miss the point. They keep their hedges cut too low and on a hardy day like we would have had about three or four weeks ago with hailstones and frost at night, the cattle will always seek out shelter and it’s the shelter of a nice hedge on the sunny side that they will go for.”

James is one of a number of contributors to the TG4 documentary Plean Bee (Plan Bee), which will be broadcast this Thursday May 20 at 9.30pm.

The documentary focuses on the positive impact that the All Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) has had in mobilising individuals and communities to reverse pollinator decline across all of Ireland.