Actually, if you were to read the book, "The History of the Countryside", by
Oliver Rackman, you will find that, rather than hedges being a relatively
recent thing, there is strong evidence to suggest that many are in fact
predating the Roman occupation.

Just thought i would mention it....
"Jim Webster" wrote in message
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"John Morgan" wrote in message
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Huw wrote in message
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There is only one major thing wrong with your point. That is,
that hedges are man made and only came into being
relitively recently, the vast majority after the Enclosures
Act. Other Countries do not have hedges as such and never
have. They are completely artificial and if one were to invent
them today and try and buid on a large scale, they would
likely be huge objections and they would be classified as
a blight on the natural landscape.

The artificial nature of hedgerows is neither here nor there in
my argument. Every square inch of European terrain shows some
signs of man's hand; a good example is lowland heath, which could
only have existed in Britain - before the landnam phase - on
windy promontories with nutrient-poor soils.

Hedges are important reserves for species that previously
occupied niches in the 'wildwood' and it is because of this, not
for their landscape value or their 'naturalness', that they are
objects for conservation today.

The problem is that they are a management tool which is, in many cases, no
longer necessary. Insisting that farmers use these obsolete methods is as
silly as demanding companies scrap all their computers and go back to hand
written ledgers.
If the state wishes to preserve these obsolete practices then obviously
the
state should pay for their preservation

Jim Webster