Hedgecutting and bird's nests

[Keitai]

Which hedges are ok to cut in bird nesting season? Is it ok to just trim the sides as the nests are deep in the hedges? Surely it's ok to cut the small ones in the pictures? No bird is gonna nest in such a small hedge

 

[Murdochcat]

Hedge trimming during the nesting season is best avoided

 

[Mottie]

Which hedges are ok to cut in bird nesting season?

Just the ones the birds aren’t nesting in already I’d have thought but yeah, best avoided if you can.

 

[aveatry]

You would be surprised - espicually robins. Unless you know for sure that there are none there but looking at the pictures I would guess that you dont often sit out there to off seen any sneaky comings and goings - they are sneaky

 

[Old Salt]

My mum had a blackbirds nest in her privett hedge every year for yonks.
Guy at the back of me has two bushes he insists on cutting at least twice during nesting season. Those bushes are a block of flats to robins, blackbirds and tits. Annoys the hell out of me.

Please don't do it. Wait a few weeks for the young to leave the nest. It ain't gonna hurt you but will make a huge difference to them.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Hey Jonny, leave the birds alone!

Andy

 

[Tigercubrider]

Although it may be unlikely that a bird will be nesting, if there is one, you will be committing an offence.

 

[Keitai]

My mum had a blackbirds nest in her privett hedge every year for yonks.
Guy at the back of me has two bushes he insists on cutting at least twice during nesting season. Those bushes are a block of flats to robins, blackbirds and tits. Annoys the hell out of me.

Please don't do it. Wait a few weeks for the young to leave the nest. It ain't gonna hurt you but will make a huge difference to them.

So when exactly have they flown? And trimming the sides ain't gonna kill them is it but I get your point

 

[StephenStephen]

So when exactly have they flown? And trimming the sides ain't gonna kill them is it but I get your point

It's not so much that you will directly kill them, it's that you will prevent the parents from building and maintaining nests, mating, laying eggs, caring for them, caring for the young birds, feeding them etc.
Both the parents and chicks can be shocked and disrupted from doing what they need to do. Chicks or nests can be abandoned.

It's kinda like why we don't use SDS drills to demolish the walls in labour wards and children's nurseries whilst they're being used...

...which is kinda why it's illegal.

 

[Old Salt]

Seagulls nesting in a nearby bus station that has stopped demolition. They reckon a further 6 weeks.

Basically its to stop the birds being scared and abandoning their nest and the young dying cos mum and dad have scarpered. Item on local radio today claimed the numbers of nesting birds are down overall on previous years.

I don't know much about it but enjoy watching them on my bird feeders (standfast the bloody pigeons) and the robin often comes out to say hello and watch what is going on. He does get up early though so I think he's already caught the worm.

 

[lostinthelight]

So when exactly have they flown? And trimming the sides ain't gonna kill them is it but I get your point

Quite a lot of garden birds species nest near the outer and top edges of a hedge and not deep within so even a light trim exposed them to eagle eyed magpies and the like