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I think you need to bring the issue to the attention of the FM and do a survey most nests should be relatively easy to spot. It may be a non-issue.
If it is an issue, work around it and come back and do the remaining sections later. I'm sure that they'll understand and work with you.
We recommend that cutting hedges and trees is avoided between March and August as this is the main breeding season for nesting birds.
From the agricultural point of view http://www.dardni.gov.uk/index/news/news-articles/news-articles-200...
Late autumn and winter are the best time to carry out cutting and trimming of hedges when the trees and hedgerow shrubs are dormant and before birds have begun to nest.
Hedges may be trimmed or coppiced from 1 September until the end of February, but from 1 March to 31 August, hedge cutting or coppicing is not permitted under Single Farm Payment Cross-Compliance requirements. This is to protect nesting birds from disturbance. All wild birds, their nests, young and eggs are protected under law and it is an offence to damage a nest intentionally while it is in use or being built.
January and February are the best time to cut hedges, as by this time birds and small mammals will have eaten most of the nuts and berries which were laid down in the hedges last autumn. If ground conditions make this difficult, then try to cut as late as possible into the autumn. If you think you will not have enough time to trim your hedges before the end of February, then leave some hedges uncut and continue to do this in a two to three year rotation around the farm. This creates a variety of hedge heights and widths which are great for wildlife and provide good shelter for stock. If you are an agri-environment scheme participant, cutting on a two to three year rotation is a requirement of your management agreement. As a general rule, the wider and taller a hedge is, the more wildlife it supports. The exception is for birds such as yellowhammers and linnets which prefer short hedges, so keep some of your hedges shorter if you have these birds breeding on your farm.
Where health and safety is an issue, for example along roadside hedges, hedge cutting is permitted between 1 March and 31 August. However it is important to make sure that you do not disturb nesting birds if you do need to cut at this time.
For more information on hedgerow management, please contact Countryside Management Branch at your local DARD Office.
Many birds have 2 or 3 broods per year, especially this year as the season is late. Many birds can be very quiet sat on the nest, I'm not sure how you would be able to detect them.
Essentially it boils down to whether you care or not about the damage you might do. If you care you'll leave it till autumn and if you don't you'll cut the hedge now. However, if by some slim chance you do get pulled up on it I don't think that 'I walked the hedgrow and didn't see any nesting birds' is going to help you as a defence.
Of course a light trim that just takes off the current seasons growth is a different matter and would probably cause minimal disturbance.
I am aware of the Act and what the timeframes are and we normally adhere to this, but the key to the Act is based upon not knowlingly harming/distrubing active nests. It does not say you can not cut hedges during this time.
I'm trying to find what is an acceptable 'Duty of Care' and how to document it.
The utlimate answer may be there is no acceptable method, but I need to get there with sufficient evidence/experience to convince a FM....
I know that the restrictions many people think are universal are more to do with Stewardship schemes and Single Farm Payments and they quite often stipulate that hedges must be left for at least two years... but obviously this is simply not practical and I know from my younger days that Council roadside hedges were cut at any time of the year.
observe black-birds etc..................... are they flying around feeding the 2 hrs you are checking??
instinct may whisper in your ear if you listen and walk around slowly.
can you hear any 'chirps' ? tweet tweet ??
if you do cut it carefully you can stop, and leave that area only. you can move nests ,but dont hold for too long and never ever touch eggs etc.......... mothers smell human scent etc...
dont go butcheering and keep trimming in a bit at a time....
good luck
And then are other ideas, moving nests, etc, sigh.
A & J Owen Garden Services said:
Got myself wound up this morning by landscapers attacking my New next door neighbours Wisteria and hedge. Admittedly the Wisteria had got itself into the guttering, but when they started cutting the hedge I went and asked if they realised it was an offense to disturb wildlife and "had they checked for birds nests first" (they hadn't) and had they told their client (my new neighbour) that this was the wrong time of year for hedge cutting - (they hadn't and didn't realise it was!)
They told me they were trained at agricultural college, and had been doing it for years - how many more people are there out there doing it wrong for years and thinking that it's fine.
Anyway i've invited them on to the Juice so that they can learn the error of their ways. - Thought i'd bring this to the fore as it's a problem that will happen again and again unless we as landscape practitioners point out to clients that hedges shouldn't be pruned now
It is maddening. Anyone who does not care about other living creatures deserves the same done to them.
I had blackbirds nesting in my hedge at home as late as September last year, and they were in there in early March this year.
Personally, I'm going to struggle both with the work being concentrated in to a smaller window and with explaining to clients why all the neighbours have nicely trimmed hedges, but their's can't be touched until mid-winter. I've had privet hedges in the past that were cut every four weeks in the growing season, the British idea of hedging is often not condusive to a once-a-year hard trim.
I understand the " Anyone who does not care about other living creatures deserves the same done to them." argument, but where do we stop? I have killed rats, rabbits and moles. I've probably squashed a slug or snail or two over the years, and have destroyed ant's nests. I've killed aphids, stepped on a worm once, and even killed a slow-worm once when strimming a large area. My van is regularly splattered wih flies, my outside lights fry plenty of moths and I've had several wasp's nests and a colony of hornets murdered last year.
Now I'm as willing as the next person to avoid disturbing nesting birds. I do feel there is a potential conflict here, though, if climate change means they fledge for 9 months of the year. A genuine question; are the birds which now seem to be having more broods throughout the year going to reach unsustainable populations, in the way grey squirrels, wood pigeonds and red kites have in my area?
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