Cut back on early branchage

From Chris Carter (Mrs).

I AM writing to express my dismay with regard to several lanes already being subjected to the first branchage of 2013.

Considering that we have experienced such a late spring, I cannot understand why landowners have decided to be particularly efficient and diligent this year.

The branchage does not have to be done until the end of June and yet here, in beautiful rural St Martin, we are not only cutting hedgerows back early, but cutting in such a way that the soil is exposed and trees slashed.

I would even go further and say that we have missed an opportunity to be proactive and suggest that the Constables, Environment department, etc, could have publicly appealed to landowners to delay the branchage in order to accommodate the late flowering and wildlife breeding season.

I know the main purpose of the branchage, as stated in www.parish.gov.je/uploads ‘is to maintain access along adjacent roads and paths’. But, the advice goes on to say ‘appropriate management will, however, also create and maintain a diverse vegetation type and structure, to support as many different species as possible… If the banks are cut too early, the annual plants will not be able to set seed, and eventually perennial plants will take over. Perennials are often hard to cut and may not provide the flowers which make our banks so attractive’.

Maybe it’s just as well that we cannot find enough parishes to participate in the Britain in Bloom competition, as our hedgerows are not being made ‘so attractive’. Therefore, finding lanes to show judges would have been difficult!

It avoids the embarrassment of dealing with questions from the judges with regards to overzealous branchage practices, particularly in a year such as this.

Tomorrow is World Environment Day. I’d like to suggest that our parish Constables prove their worth and speak up on this issue, as it is they who have their fingers on the parish pulse – the reason given as to why they should be in the States.

Your paper and the Environment department could concurrently run a campaign that reminds land-owners to heed the following advice on good hedgerow and habitat management from the National Trust for Jersey – and note the fourth bullet point:

• Cutting with hand tools when possible.

• Allowing plants to set seed if they’re not overhanging.

• Leaving tussocks of vegetation for insects.

• Never carrying out heavy hedge work during the bird breeding season (1 March to 31 July).

• Never cutting so much that bare soil is exposed.

• Never cutting rare or endangered plants.

As the parish.gov.je website states that hedgerows are ‘also a defining characteristic of Jersey’s countryside’, possibly you could also enlist the support of Jersey Tourism.

All of this advice applies generally, but not specifically to the conditions being experienced this year. I would, therefore, suggest that guidelines should be more rigorously followed than usual.

Unfortunately, I can hear the dissenters already: making roads safe is a priority; manicured, pristine verges look tidy; landowners have a right to manage their land in their own way; using mechanical tools are labour saving, therefore, cut down costs; and so on.

However, to make these comments misses the point of this letter.

I await positive and constructive feedback with interest and unswerving optimism.