Hedgerow Study Stroll – Musbury – 27th October 2009
(by Mike Lock)
About
16 members met at Musbury Village Hall and were lucky enough to be
joined by Dr Max Hooper, the originator of ‘Hooper’s Rule’, which
states (in brief) that the age of a hedge in hundreds of years is
approximately equal to the number of woody species in a 30-yard length
of hedge. After a brief visit to Mike Lock’s garden, where a mixed planted hedge five years old contained most of the species we were likely to see, we headed down Waterford Lane and into Dead Horse Lane, where three 30-yard lengths contained 7,8 and 9 species, suggesting that the hedge could be around 800 years old.
We then looked at a hedge dividing two fields off Waterford Lane, and found about five species in three 30-yard lengths, suggesting an age of 500 years or thereabouts. Dr Hooper said that it is usual for lane and road hedges to be older than the divisions between the neighbouring fields.