AMONG the glories of the Jersey countryside are its hedgerows and its roadside walls – particularly those in the west of the Island, where the granite is encrusted with vivid yellow and green lichens.

The hedges and walls are easily overlooked as we zoom past them in our day-to-day lives. However, pause for a moment at this time of year to stand and stare and you can hardly fail to be delighted by the profusion of life, ranging from lush grasses to the bright blooms of pink campion.

There is, of course, another and less appealing feature of banks and hedgerows. Their very lushness means that they intrude into thoroughfares and are soon perceived as nuisances rather than objects of wonder.

The branchage makes matters safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, but in this age of the tractor-driven flail and the strimmer – which have all but replaced the labour-intensive sickle and forked stick – nature’s profusion is soon transformed into a severe scalping, often with substantial damage to the trees which lend substance to many hedgerows.

There can also be damage to animal life. The man with the sickle who might have taken the trouble to work around a hedgerow bird’s nest has been replaced by a quasi-industrial process in which time is money.

But our banks and hedgerows are not without friends. The Jersey Hedgerow Campaign, launched as a joint initiative by Trees for Life, the National Trust for Jersey, the Jersey Bat Group, the Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group, Action for Wildlife, the Société Jersiaise and the Environment department, has been formed to raise awareness among Islanders.

Such a high-powered coalition must surely capture public attention, but its commendable efforts depend on practical action as well as education. People are being encouraged to make donations to improve specific hedgerows in memory of a loved one. Volunteers are also being sought to plant new hedges and maintain old ones. And schoolchildren are being given the opportunity to climb into hedges and to discover more about the profusion of life that they support.

In addition to the organisations actively promoting the Hedgerow Campaign, many others have pledged their support. To its credit, Jersey Dairy has already donated £1,000 to extend the hedge education programme to adults. Be aware, therefore, that a Jersey Dairy Day in the Hedge could soon be coming to the countryside near you.