June 3: hedgerows and local environmental lessons

 The day began with an early morning bird walk through the extensive property of our hotel. Over a number of years the hotel has added adjacent properties and has created wildflower meadows from formerly plowed and farmed land. They are also maintaining woodland and transitional areas, all of which provide important habitat for birds, insects, small mammals and butterflies.  The naturalist who led the walk was a fount of knowledge, particularly on identifying birds by song alone— but he was surprised by how many different species we actually saw (24).  

Starting on that walk and continuing for the rest of the day were lessons and observations about methods for recovery of habitat and sustainable farming on a local or small scale. We learned about hedgerows (which are very different from our American monoculture notion of a hedge). Hedgerows have been part of the English landscape since prehistoric times, and the extent of them has reflected changes in societal and land ownership practices over the centuries. A proper hedgerow should have a berm or a wall or a fence as its foundation, around which (or on top of which) the hedgerow grows. A hedgerow should include many different types and species of plants (trees, shrubs, vines, wildflowers, brambles...) and serves to help control runoff, retain soil, and provide habitat for many species. We observed how the runoff of fertilizer for example is reflected in the type of wildflower that grows, and how a hedgerow can help contain that runoff from infiltrating the adjacent meadow or stream. We also saw other small scale activities to control runoff, for water quality and flood control, including leaving unmown edges in the tougher parts of hayfields, and encouraging streams to meander with small ponds along the way (humans emulating the actions of beavers which are no longer present in England). 

This evening turned out to be one of the most unusual experiences I’ve ever had. We traveled to Woodchester Mansion, a large mid19th century neoGothic mansion in a wooded valley. Only the shell was ever completed and it is preserved just as it was when construction was abandoned in 1863 or so. It was fascinating to see how a stone house would look at that stage— some ceilings and walls plastered, many not, and many floors never having been completed. As if that wasn’t enough, after dinner in the only finished room in the mansion, we joined the bat researchers to track Greater and Lesser Horseshoe bats as they left the attics for the evening. These bats have been studied in this location for over 60 years! We had “bat detectors” which we could tune to the frequency of each species of bat, so that as they flew by they “spoke” to us. An experience that combined surprise, frustration, elation and a sense of the absurd.