I’m sure that a lot of you got out and about to burn off some of the Christmas calories before 2012 ended.

My exercise came in the form of an outing with the Colwall Orchard Group to help them plant a hedgerow along one side of their community allotment and orchard.

I had a painful reminder of how long it has been sine I did any practical work. We planted a stretch of about 50-100 metres with a series of saplings, and in between each one were much greater numbers of seedlings. Each tree was given a protective plastic cover to help it flourish as it grows. Species we planted included ash, blackthorn and damson. I was also reminded how poor my tree identification skills are – one branch looks just like another to me – so a New Year’s resolution is to improve my botanical identification skills.

Hedgerows often bring the pleasure of wildlife to a car or train journey or a walk through the countryside. Many a time I’ve walked along a country lane and seen birds moving along hedgerows, feeding or perching – yellowhammers sit atop them and rattle off their call or flocks of sparrows move about through the seemingly impenetrable tangle of branches. Without these borders to our roads and train lines, journeys would be much duller.

They provide vital homes for much of our wildlife, and corridors for other creatures that are on the move. According to the RSPB, they support up to 80% of our woodland birds, 50% of our mammals and 30% of our butterflies. The hedge itself can be a place for birds to nest, in particular where there’s a lack of more dense woodland, and the grassy margin provides habitat for insects.

Sadly, due to modern farming practices and increasing urbanisation, we have lost lots of our hedgerows. Removal, the use of herbicides and lack of management have all led to a decline in hedgerows across the UK. According to the English Hedgerow Trust, between 1945 and 1993 around half of the hedgerows in the UK were lost – and this is one factor in the declines in farmland birds which reached their lowest ever levels in last year’s State of the UK’s Birds report. This decline does now appear to have been stemmed but there is still a lot of work to be done to restore what has been lost and to protect what remains.

The hedgerow I was helping to plant was due to receive funding from the Higher Level Scheme (HLS) – this is an agri-environment scheme (a funding scheme which gives out money for good farming  and land-management practices). This money ultimately comes from the Common Agricultural Policy, a European instrument. As negotiations continue over the future of the CAP, both farmers and charities like the RSPB are arguing that money for these schemes must not face the 20% cuts the EU is proposing.

The EU must use scarce funds more effectively to reward the most environmentally friendly types of farming and to help farmers who want to do the best for nature – this is the best chance our farmland wildlife has.