Urgent plea not to cut hedges... yet!

 

The early onset of spring this year has led to birds setting up home earlier than normal with many species now in their second, or even third, clutch of chicks.

 

And it has led to a joint appeal from Dyfed-Powys Police and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) for people refrain from cutting their hedges until August 31.

 

Sergeant Matthew Howells from Dyfed Powys Police, who is seconded to the CCW said: “Police are receiving more calls than usual from people calling to report people cutting their hedges and to find out whether they are right to suggest they stop. Most of the calls being taken from members of the public are reports of next door neighbours being overzealous when trimming bushes and trees in the garden and also farmers cutting hedges around their lanes and fields.”

 

The advice from the CCW is to use common sense and they urge caution.

 

Sergeant Howells added: “People need to use a common sense approach to this. Speak to your neighbours before tearing into a boundary hedge, come up with a practical plan that gets the result that both sides want even if it means waiting until September. Farmers cutting hedgerows need to remember that access to the countryside gives everyone the opportunity to see what goes on in rural Wales. Consideration should be given as to how the activity is perceived by members of the public. What a farmer sees as being good farm management could be construed as wilful destruction of wildlife and their habitats by members of the public.

 

“This isn’t about the police and partner agencies persecuting people who want to keep their gardens and farms tidy, it’s about working together to preserve the countryside that we live and work in providing an environment that we can keep for the future whilst at the same time managing land and wildlife within the law and the regulations associated with those laws.”

 

The birds and their eggs are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1982 and it could lead to prosecution, resulting in a penalty of up to £5,000 per bird/nest and or six months imprisonment.

 

Where work is vital, people are urged to keep their eyes peeled, check the hedges for any nests and tread carefully. If a nest is discovered, the advice is to try and restore any covering and leave it alone until young birds have flown the nest.