
Origin of hedges	Usefulness of the hedge	The hedge under threat !	Planting of a hedge	Advice on hedges	The green screen hedge	The decorative hedge	The low hedge	The hedgerow

USEFULNESS OF THE HEDGE

The hedge ensures a climatic control, it withstands the free movement of air masses and creates screens against solar radiation. It captures the warmth and increases the average temperature in spring and autumn. The hedge protects the livestock from the wind, the cold and the sun.
The hedge also ensures water regulation by stopping the rapid runoff of rainwater, which allows this to infiltrate into the soil. This conserves water by recharging the water-table.
In addition, the hedge promotes a balance between species, improves the landscape and provides fruit, berries and wood products.
The ecosystem of the hedge works perfectly when a multitude of species are represented therein. It forms an ecological community or "biocoenosis".

Many animals frequent our hedgerows :
They are invaluable aids for our agriculture and include pollinating insects and predatory birds which attack the pests.
There are also salamanders, lizards, snakes, hedgehogs, hoopoes, warblers, nuthatches and red-backed shrikes (which impale their prey on thorns).

In our preserved hedgerows you will see :
The sparrows, chased by the hawk, the buzzard, the goshawk, the kestrel, (symbol of the department), the barn owl, and the long-eared owl.
..And then the cardamine pratensis (the cuckoo flower), the lathraea clandestina (the purple toothwort), the anacamptis morio (the green-winged orchid), the hawthorn and the blackthorn, which are so pretty in the spring.
..And then again the roebuck, the woodpecker and the yellow-bellied toad.
..And then lastly near to the ponds and brooks:
The grey heron and the kingfisher under the majestic flight of grey cranes migrating to Africa ...

Click on a photo to enlarge !

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