Public service announcement:
It's time we started putting cherry plum in our hedges again.
They look like blackthorn but less thorny and much less suckering.
And they blossom earlier. Who doesnt want early signs of spring?!
The ancient hedges round here are full of it
You may or may not want to trim, thats your preference! But once in a while they all need rejuvenation through laying (or at this point, maybe coppicing) to force regrowth from the base & give the next hedge-generation
These pics from two adjacent fields, the whole farm the same
The biggest public hedge myth:
Its more natural to leave them alone, unmanaged
Alas some farmers believe this myth. Ol'boy farmer here says he leaves his hedges alone for wildlife. Only works for a few decades, then decline
We're losing hedges at an alarming rate due to this