mechanised farming means that this hedge-cutting is done with a tractor fitted with a battery of flail blades spinning at high speed. It shreds a hedge in seconds, razing it to a uniform height marked by thousands of splintered ends, as if the branches had exploded rather than been cut. The result of such treatment is a weakened and barren hedge, riven with gaps stripped of the berries, nuts and hips that help sustain birds during the winter, and with less of the deep tangled shelter favoured by wildlife.
