Sweet flower! Of all that bloom by hill or glen Through smiling Kent, there’s none I love like thee For thour’st the truest type of true born men
Hardy unbought, untamable and free...”
conservation
Fighting Climate Change with Hedgerows - What On Earth?
Hedgerows – many of us are noticing hedgerows more than ever before on our daily exercise, from the unidentified small brown bird dashing into the undergrowth, to the hum of insects foraging. There is plenty to take notice of, but...
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OCND Traineeship: Hedge Laying at Holly Hill
In January I was lucky enough to participate in the course I’ve been hoping to get to do, possibly most of all: Hedge Laying at Holly Hill. This craft dates back at least to Roman times, maybe even...
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Making 2020 ‘The Year of the Hedgerow’
A hedgerow is defined as any boundary line of trees or shrubs over 20m long and less than 5m wide at the base. Whilst this is the standard description of a hedgerow, it does not paint a very exciting picture...
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Reflecting on the project: Year one
Beginning in May 2017, Old Chalk New Downs set out to deliver a new approach to chalk grassland management and restoration, recognising that people needed to engage with their natural environment if they were to be encouraged to protect it. With...
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Is a chainsaw wildlife’s best friend?
Preservation of trees is a topic that raises great passion in many with an interest in Conservation. Mention a chainsaw and many will strap themselves to a tree to save it. Britain’s natural state was once a wooded...
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Help Our Hedgerows!
Mention hedging and many people will think of garden chores and neighbourhood boundaries, without realising the extent and value of our county's field margins. These long rows of bushes, often interspersed with trees, divide up our landscape, preventing livestock...
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Talk the Chalk
My first impressions of Kent were formed several years before I ever imagined I should move here to live. Speeding through the county from Essex to Sussex, I emerged from the Dartford Crossing relieved to be South of the Thames...
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