Britain has lost around half its hedgerows since the Second World War. The wildlife that depended on them has followed a similar trajectory. 🌿 The old field boundary — a strip of blackthorn, hawthorn, dog rose, and elder two to five metres wide between cultivated ground — was not wasted agricultural space. It was a functioning ecological system that maintained pollinators, pest predators, and farmland birds across centuries of working land. Each hedgerow is a nesting corridor for grey partridge and skylark, a foraging habitat for brown hares and hedgehogs, a site for solitary bee colonies, and a windbreak for the crops alongside it. The field cultivated to its very edge gives the maximum return this season. It removes the populations of beneficial insects, farmland birds, and small mammals on which stable long-term production depended. The field with a hedgerow yields a few percent less per cultivated hectare — but remains productive across decades without compensatory chemical inputs. The documented declines in grey partridge, lapwing, and skylark across the British agricultural landscape since the 1970s are directly linked to field consolidation and hedgerow removal. Practical equivalents for the garden or smallholding: - A strip of wildflower meadow at least one metre wide at the plot boundary - A clump of nettles in a shaded corner as a habitat base for red admiral, small tortoiseshell, and peacock butterflies - A native mixed hedge of blackthorn and hawthorn in place of post-and-wire fencing - A section of uncut grass between rows of fruit trees #HedgerowHabitat #FarmlandWildlife #NativeHedge #GardenWildlife

The NHS is routinely described as 'unsustainable'. But that adjective never gets applied to arms spending, bank bail-outs or tax dodging by the rich.

RT @HackneyAbbott: If the government wants to sell our data to US Big Tech and wants to further curb our civil liberties, it should say so…

Attention all Fiction fans! All of our copies of the Northern Gravy Fiction anthology for both pre-orders and writers have now been posted! Caused a massive queue in the post office, but they’ll be with you all shortly! Dont forget to let us know when they arrive!

Be cruel to me #wolverhampton

Publishers - I'm very light on books that are being released in November and December - I know it's a quieter time but please get in touch if you've got anything that NEEDS reviewing! natasha.harding@the-sun.co.uk

Book post at the weekend! Big thanks to @saltpublishing and @nicholasroyle. It's an honour to be in the company of such superb writers. I buy this anthology every year, and I'm still overcome to be in it.

Nosy neighbours in the rain #camping

UNITY STATEMENT: we’re uniting and mobilising to launch a campaign against the far right. New statement in @DailyMirror by Stand Up to Racism signed by @Palomafaith, @HackneyAbbott, @biminibabes, @jeremycorbyn, @katenash plus over 100 other politicians, music artists, campaigners, trade unionists and anti-racists. Sign the statement: bit.ly/unitystatement24 Read it in @DailyMirror: mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pa… #StandUptoRacism (1/4)

Artists in Issue 7 theamphibianlit.wordpress.co… Looking fabulous. Can hardly wait to see this issue in the wild! #Folklore #Lammas