OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Naomi from Binstead. Ed
And yet another hedgerow has been ripped up along the A3054 between Newport and Yarmouth. Three sections of hedgerow have gone from that stretch of road in the last year.
Not only do hedgerows form habitat for wildlife to live, either in burrows or in nests; hedges form corridors for animals to run between.
A vital lifeline for wildlife
Hedges are a vital lifeline for our friends such as the hedgehog… a species who rely on hedgerows as a safehaven and to help them find a mate. But the hedgehog is a species whose UK population has decreased by 30% since 2013, this is largely due to habitat destruction such as hedgerow removal.
We need to start doing more for our wildlife, we need to put value on our trees and hedgerows and we should be held accountable when destroying them.
Decline of wildlife
In 2019 the State of Nature report told us that the UK’s wildlife populations have declined by an average of 60% in less than 50 years.
What about in the next 50 years, will there be any wildlife left?
Within his recent programme on BBC2, Chris Packham told us that in the last 60 years the global human population has doubled from four billion to nearly eight billion, and by 2050 our population will reach ten billion.
Need to start being responsible for our actions
With human populations ever-increasing the pressure on our wildlife – with demand for land for housing and agriculture, we need to start being responsible for our actions.
If we’re not careful our beautiful Island could easily become bereft of trees and hedgerows.
Just because we can cut down a tree or hedge, does it mean we should?
Image: Tadeusz Lakota under CC BY 2.0
