Like the Ritz for wildlife: the joy of recreating England’s ancient hedges

Up and down the country, volunteers are coming together to plant more of these nature-rich reservesThe 30-metre ridge runs across the moor near Yar Tor on Dartmoor, one of several faint lines that crisscross the land like aeroplane contrails. Although the open moorland looks wild, we are standing on some of the UK’s oldest farmland. These ridges, called reaves, are the ghosts of farming’s most wildlife-rich legacy: hedges.“These reaves sadly have no function today other than to