Growing 30-50 feet tall, Osage Orange has a rugged, spreading form and is often found in hedgerows or fields across the Midwest and southern U.S., where it was once native only to Texas ...

He made us dig a spadeful of soil from the middle of our field to compare it with an equal spit from the bottom of one of our ancient hedgerows. The former could be made into a jolly decent pot ...

But beyond their visual uses, we have recently begun to appreciate their contribution to wildlife too. 50% of British hedgerows have been lost since WWII, of those remaining 60% are badly damaged.

The middle of winter doesn’t seem like it would be a very active time of year for wildlife on farmland but there is a lot going on below the surface and under the cover of trees in hedgerows.