Still delighted and overwhelmed with gratitude to have received 329 votes as a completely new politician in the Scottish Borders.
And, as promised, I haven’t sat on my laurels, but have carried on to start setting up the local pilot schemes I outlined in my well-received manifesto.
I’m initially focussing on my Hedgerow Economy proposal. Letters have already started going out to our important local major landowners to seek their expertise and advice. Their buy-in and collective wisdom is crucial to success in this farming-based community.
Next, I’ll be writing to Westminster and Holyrood governments and their respective departments. At the same time, I’ll be trying to fathom what individual nature restoration, employment, training, volunteering and other schemes already exist in the area to see what elements could be knitted together to create the Hedgerow pilot. I’m keen to avoid inventing any new wheels.
If you want to help me work to make an appreciable ecological improvement to our rural way of life, please do get in touch! 
In his foreword to “A Natural History of the Hedgerow”, John Wright says “While few of the agricultural reasons for planting or retaining hedgerows remain that relevant today, their importance as a natural history habitat cannot be overstated….. Today hedgerow loss is understood by most people as a bad thing and hedges are protected as never before…. Many hedges are doomed … Those that survive, however, must be cared for with informed and sensitive cutting and repair regimes…… It is neither particularly expensive or onerous to look after hedges and it often involves not doing something (such as verge cutting) – or at least doing it at the right time and with a little more thought.” Just a little more grist to your mill.
Hello, Els. I think Hedgerows are a sensible place to start in examining environmental responsibility of land use. They are high visibility indicators to road users of the environmental credentials of landowners. We own just about a mile of agricultural hedgerow, so are very small fry in hedgerow ownership, but even a mile of hedge makes us thoughtful about management. John Wright in his book “A Natural History of the Hedgerow” writes “The size and composition of a hdege has a profound effect on the birds that might inhabit it. Generally speaking, a large, tall, lush hedge with many woody species will have more birds.”(p270). He notes that width of hedge is essential and height is important too, and refers to a 1994 scientific paper in the Journal of Applied Ecology Vol 31/4 by Green, Osborne and Sears, which establishes the important parameters of both hedge composition and adjacent farmland. If chemical treatments of arable land denude it of biodiverse life then there is no larder for hedgerow birds which decline proportionately. Best Wishes with your project, Alistair.