SoE Annual Competition

Yesterday saw the annual SoE hedgelaying competition at Donnington near Chichester. A cold but bright day and as it had not rained for several days the site was relatively dry - except for a ditch beside the hedge which had a foot or so of water in it.

The hedge itself was variable in both species and thickness. Some parts were neatly planted Hawthorn and Field Maple of three to five inches in diameter, and others thick with one to two inch Blackthorn. All sections were full of bramble but the cants under the large Oaks were very thin.

 My cant was one of the better ones - as were those of my fellow veterans - mainly Hawthorn with some Field maple and a few spindly Blackthorn and Hazel.

Once I had cleared out the bottom and the bramble from the top it looked a lot thinner than in the photo above and one section in particular had no growth at mid-height making it difficult to get some width and density into the hedge.

No intermediate photos I'm afraid as the battery in my camera was flat and I took these on my phone which was also running low. This next two are by Jackie Gilligan - see above for a link to her photo pages.

I was pleased with the finished hedge but as always you think you could have done this better or laid that differently etc. Apparently the judges also liked it, as I won the Veteran Shield by a whisker from frequent sparring partner Clive.