3000 km of hedgerow destroyed per year

The landscpe in Ireland that we see today has been completely shaped by us and our ancestors over 8000 years. This includes the hedgerows which are built, managed and reshaped by man and will continue to be. The countryside is a place where people live and work, ir is not a wildlife theme park. Trees like Whitethorn (introduced by English planters) and Sycamore (introduced by the Normans) used in hedgerows are non native. Laurels and Grisilinia are non native and commonly used for hedging, you will find plenty birds nesting in them. In fact you know the birds are using them over time ivy and briars will start coming up through them from bird droppings.

You can look at the old ordnance survey maps are see the difference over time as small subsistence tenant farmer holdings are cleared into larger farms, with Catholic emancipation and land reform acts. Hedgerows have been reshaped since the 19th century. Should we really have a countryside with small lime washed cottages where tenants doff their caps to their betters as they pass by on horseback? The landscape will keep changing, always has, always will.

I am very familiar with them, I live both there and Dublin, and being a keen cyclist how dangerous they are. The major change I have observed in my area of the countryside has been the spread of coniferous forest and wind turbines and improved drainage where ditches and hedgerows are still needed. In order to dampen the noise from wind turbines I've had to plant Laurels around the property (fast growing and evergreen). Depending on wind conditions turbines start to moan like banshees as they get older due to parts wear.

If you want a real story, just visit the solar panel frenzy forum, where more than a few people call for or have removed trees to up their daily PV bragging ability. I've seen some complain of overshadow from council trees which they want removed.

Removing carbon fixing trees because you are worried about CO2? I don't think they give a toss about CO2, to be honest.

It wouldn't surprise me if the concerted push for more solar panels in this country leads to significant vegetation loss.

What other countries have a hedgerows similar to Ireland, apart from bits of UK

Is there a breakdown of where the 3000km of hedgerow is being lost , I wouldn't thing agri is the only sector that removes hedgerows, civil, "green energy" projects , property development there always something looking for more space in the pursuit of progress for mankind . Eventually humans will wipe themselves from the planet and it will return to its natural state eventually.

Why would farmers and rural Ireland listen to the Greens? They despise them.

It’s called pollarding and that looks like a decent job.

That small area on the outskirts of the city centre you've zoomed in on is next to large areas of greenery.

The average farm in the US is now consolidated at 445 acres. Ireland's avg is 80

I see about 2 dozen similarly sized farms just on my way to the interstate.

Mostly as a dick swinging metric too in Co Meath reportedly in that. "An acre for every day of the year"

Tillage farmers can't currently compete with dairy farmers. Tillage farmers the world over do well, but dairy is currently booming.

Tillage farmers for the most part have their ditches long ago knocked are not expanding like dairy.

NCD for vegetable growing might be an outlier given its closeness to market and booming prices in

It's nothing to do with light, it's maximising ground for grass/silage. Ditches are a disaster for yield, big open fields are what dairy farmers want biodiversity be damned.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/kilkenny-man-fined-e2000-for-removing-hedgerow-1340997.html

€2k would be about one third of a summer's days milk for a 200 cow herd.