I never hear warnings not to cut trees/hedgerows in nesting season - I'm going to email RSPB ...

Isn't it a miracle that there are any birds left at all, considering that the first horse-drawn hedgecutter was invented in 1854 and the first hand-held one in 1940?
I gardened professionally in UK for 12 years and in my own garden for 25 and don't remember any issues whatsoever with cutting hedges leading to bird fatalities. The one occasion that a nestfull of baby blackbirds were picked off within ten minutes of leaving their nest was due to our neighbour's Jack Russell taking them.

 

My neighbours has informed me that they have a tree surgeon coming in first thing tomorrow morning. Trees will be cut well back, bushes halved. Oh yes - and did I want the pieces of my hedge, returned?

 

They say that on the RSPB site, but there's also these;
Legal Constraints For Tree Surgeons | Tree Protection Orders | Caring For Bird`s Nesting

and..

 

Now there are more people/buildings, fewer trees, and now many bird species are in decline. Should we just chop things whenever we want because it's convenient for us?

 

I think more attention on this on tv programmes like countryfile might help as well as rspb leafleting etc.
I always leave my hedges until August but my neighbour cuts his side whenever he feels like it .. I’ve pointed out politely that there will be birds nesting in the hedge but his response was “oh I don’t think so” … he being a member of the Green Party and very committed to recycling, cleaning up waste on the roadside locally etc etc I just can’t fathom it to be honest !

 

I've checked the hedge - there doesn't appear to be any nests. There definitely aren't any in the trees, but the birds do use them.

I get frustrated when my wife vacates me house to allow me an afternoon nap - then I find she's pruned flowers off bushes, denying bees their nectar.
Sigh!

 

My point was that, from personal experience, the disturbance to nesting birds is exaggerated. My hedges are chock-full of blackbirds and sparrows. They reproduce between 2 and 4 times a year. They sit tight while the hedges are cut and I've certainly never found evidence of an abandoned nest with either eggs or nestlings.
Golden orioles nest in the oleander 'hedge' that grows at the edge of the terrace. The constant comings and goings on the terrace, and the proximity of two cats doesn't seem to faze them.

 

IME there’s a huge difference between the impact on nesting birds of ‘lightly trimming a hedge’ which is what it sounds like you’re talking about @noisette47 compared with the impact of ‘cutting back’ a hedge which will involve cutting into and removing mature branches and foliage, risking the abandonment of the nest and revealing nests to predators and increasing the impact of wind, rain and strong sunlight on nestlings.

They are two very different operations. In the UK the first is not banned during the nesting period. The second (with a few tightly restricted exceptions) certainly is banned.

 

My understanding is that it's advised, but not a full on, legal requirement, that people try to avoid cutting hedges from 1st March, but here, birds aren't even starting to build nests, at the start of March. They're only just starting to pair up at that time, and maybe check out nest sites.
It's great to make people aware of the potential problems, but surely the type of hedge and it's site are also factors. A small, narrow hedge is generally less likely to have birds nesting than a large, wide one. The info farmers are meant to adhere to about early/late cutting would therefore be slightly different from someone with a small, domestic hedge.

I looked at an RSPB site yesterday, and it certainly didn't seem to be stating that it was a law - it was about timing and checking the hedge first. Of course, common sense nowadays is anything but common!

 

@RowlandsCastle youneed to hide the secateurs and scissors!!

The local council here is very diligent at hedge cutting along public roads and, as we're rural, that includes tracks only passable in tractors and off-roadersor on foot or horse-back. They get it all done by mid March. After that they trim the ground level growth in verges and ditches but then leave that alone till late September so all the critters and buzzies can feed, breed and shelter.

There are signs up explaining to grockles that the verges are left long for wildlife so they don't compalin it's tatty.

 

@fairygirl So many dates given for things horticultural or agricultural are pretty arbitrary. The date difference between 'planty things' happening in the South of England and Central or Highland Scotland can often literally be measured in weeks. The 'Chelsea Chop' is a case in point. Some gardening programmes used to effectively put it out there that if you didn't do the chop on that day the world would end tomorrow. People just need to use common sense although that doesn't seem to be all that common any more.

 

It's why it's so frustrating when presenters on TV shows etc give generalisations about planting @KT53. You'd think by now they'd understand that we don't all live in the south of the UK.
As for the Chelsea Chop - it's always being recommended for Sedums/Hylotelephiums. They'd have to be big enough here by the end of May for them to need cutting back.
We're 3 to 4 weeks behind up here, depending on how far north you are, and which side, hence my comments earlier. Perhaps they need to change that phrase about common sense

 

It’s important to be accurate as this topic is full of misconceptions. There is no prohibition on hedge cutting. No legal restrictions. It is illegal to damage an active birds nest without licence. It is also illegal to disturb a subset of species (Schedule 1 species). The majority are not schedule 1 so you have to demonstrate than direct damage is being caused. Contractors who state that they check are on a sticky wicket as they need to be able to demonstrate competence at surveying for nests and also have a process in place for the work should they find one.

 

[QUOTE="Obelix-Vendée, post:

There are signs up explaining to grockles that the verges are left long for wildlife so they don't compalin it's tatty.[/QUOTE]

There was a post on our local fakebook page once, asking the horse owners next to us to not feed hay near the fence as the public footpath was getting muddy. In a field, in winter, disgraceful!