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THE IRISH WILDLIFE Trust is seeking to highlight the ban on hedge cutting which runs until the end of August after receiving a number of calls of illegal cutting from around the country over the summer months.
The IWT said there is now a real concern this will escalate during the month of August. A recent freedom of information enquiry revealed that since 2011, there have been 40 prosecutions for illegal hedge cutting, with the majority of cases having a fine imposed.
“Ireland’s hedgerows are a vital refuge for many native wildlife species in a landscape with little native woodland compared to other countries,” the trust said in a statement. “Hedgerows provide food, shelter, nesting sites, habitat corridors and are an essential component for flood defences, preventing soil erosion and the silting of rivers as well as carbon sequestration.”
IWT development officer Lorraine Bull said August is a particularly crucial month for wildlife to use hedgerows.
“A number of wildflower species are in flower in August, providing vital food resources for our bee and butterfly pollinators. Birds, such as the Yellowhammer, nest well into September and chicks sitting in the nest can be disturbed and even killed as heavy hedge cutting machinery fires small pieces of debris straight into the hedge at great velocity. We must ensure that our wildlife laws are enforced to help protect our native wildlife.”
Anyone who sees illegal hedge cutting is being urged to contact local gardaí or the National Parks and Wildlife ranger.
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Someone should tell the Dublin county council about it.
Not just DCC. Many other local authorities are equally guilty.
They can be cut for safety reasons, i.e. If it blocks the view of motorists. The been is mainly for farmers so the won’t cut hedges in fields
Leave the hedges alone and pull the ragwort instead.
There is an excemption for maintaining roads and footpaths
They need to come out before the ban and cut the hedges, the hedges the council in Tipperary are cutting now were reported to them as far back as March as overgrown.
Well said Chris !
Maybe some one should tell the county council to stop spraying ditches on road ways with chemicals hedge cutting would be far better then spraying toxic round up all over the country killing all the berry bushes with poison is not good for the birds and bees also I have noticed lately whole road ways spray poisoned cutting ditches would be far more healthier then cancerous poison.
It might help drivers to see up and down the roads when pulling out of driveways etc but don’t worry about people. The animals matter
Yes plus getting your car scratched to hell, other countries have no hedges along the road and it’s much better for road safety.
It’s only 3 months of the year you’ll get over it. If only they would use the same common sense on the canals. This is worth a watch. Senseless destruction of wildlife.
Three months of the year where the hedges are thickest i see no reason why a person can’t cut hedges around the enterence to there home and on bad country roads the government has chosen to forget about.
Oh don’t be ridiculous. You’ve fabricated a reason to be outraged out of thin air.
mirrors in convenient places help
Vincent Wallace. It’s allowed to cut them for safety reasons, but I agree not enough people do. There are a couple of junctions local to me where you just have to say “Hail Mary” and floor it.
Vincent of course you can cut your hedge just cut them extra low in late winter. This way you are certain to avoid destroying any nesting wildlife. It’s a very simple concept.
Or else Martin I was born and raised in the country and no it its a real danger compared to for example, France where on country roads you can literally see for miles due to the fact they have no hedges. So take your aggressive agree with me or else lefty tone somewhere else.
Why they (Tipperary and Kilkenny County Councils) don’t cut the hedgerow when it’s reported to them in early Spring as overgrown I will never know, they leave it until July when it’s completely taking over the round and break the law to do so.
@ Vincent Wallace. France has trees, woods, copses, forests, and l have seen roadside cutting crews deliberately avoid stands of wildflowers such as orchids when they trim the margins.
Do cut. Retain Ireland’s greeness which the tourists love. Motorists can start by using indicators, driving with care on country roads and not stopping on bends for a chat.
@Tweed Cap: you don’t get over being killed. Unless you know otherwise of course….
The problem in Ireland is that we have our hedgerows right up to the road hedge along most of our roads. This includes entrances to houses. Seems to be a national unwillingness to be able to see up and down the road without being halfway out on the road already. Other countries you see, these magical things call wide grass margins, which deals with magical things like drainage, and being able to see up and down the road at your entrance without, wait for it, being halfway out on the road. Councils are just as guilty of course.
Special branch involved?
I love you for this
Am I allowed to cut that green thing at the end of the garden that’s halfway across the street by now. If so when does a hedge becone a hedgerow?
When more that three hedge meet up then they orderly form a row, everybody knows that.
Thanks David, I didn’t know that (suspect I’m not alone). Now I’m off Googling whether it’s a hedge cutting ban or a hedgerow cutting ban.
Any Tree, Bush, Hedge, any growth in uncultivated areas such as verges.. is included in the ban.
Did you know with proper management a verge can be full of wildflowers (not planted), with the grass kept low…by just cutting the grass etc, once in the autumn and once in spring with the cuttings taken away…
Lazy people. Cut the hedges just before the ban starts and stop looking for excuses to criticise something that benefits our wildlife.
6 comments before the farmer gets blamed, new record !!
Heather Humpheries is the concern here. She is destroying our Heritage bit by bit.
What a loada shite .. Nanny state nonsense
Yeah the cheek of them – if we want to destroy our wildlife we should be allowed to….
^^^sarc
Unfortunately our wildlife needs a nanny because big brother human is driving them to extinction
James you know better than that?
How would one spot illegal hedge cutting?
Well there’ll be a hedge right!! Keep up now , then you might see some machinery , still with me? Then if you’re eagle eyed you’ll see the machinery cutting the hedge .. if it’s after August you’re ok , no need to panic..
Ah Fionn, the simple mind knows neither complication nor comprehension.
I believe our friend is asking how would an illegal hedge cutter get caught? Unlikely I’d say, unless you’d think the local guards will charge an errant farmer with such an offence…..
Exactly, maybe I should just stop on the road, mostly in the middle because the road is narrow already and just ask the hedge cutter,
Are you an Ill eagle or are you just an eagle ?
They have signs usually on the road as well, hedge cutting in progress and there is a tail back as one side of the road is blocked by the machinery cutting the hedge row.
Did you mean in a mechanical or manual sense?
There is an exemption for maintaining roads and footpaths
Hedge Fund profits have a twelve month exemption from a clipping.
I think such an exemption is a joke, back in early Spring I reported overgrown hedges and nothing was done until two weeks ago. Surely the Council has as much responsibility for nature as anyone else even where roads and footpaths are concerned to get the cutting of hedgerow done before and after the ban and not neglect it further so they have to use such an exemption.
Helena. Enforcing the law is difficult as co cos do not full their weight.
Pull
Someone needs to tell Tipperary County Council…
Hedgerows along roadsides should be exempt, this will improve road safety and keep the little creatures safe too as it would encourage them to make their homes away from high speed traffic…
The Wildlife Trust should do a few TV and Radio ads.
I doubt if the have the money. All their experts do the work voluntary.
Need to start a hedgefund
For those you who think this a joke, I suggest you log onto the website of the National Biodiversity Data Centre of Ireland and learn about the many species that depend on hedges for habitat and food and why we might want to keep them around before you decide you don’t need them. Open your mind, you might be surprised. We depend on thriving biodiversity so we do need to take much better care of it. As others have said, it’s the time of year that is critical to these species, it just requires better management.
Much more important to save a bee then having a safe road to drive on!!!,the over grown road sides are a huge danger to drivers and people walking alike. It’s a complete joke
If you know someday in the parks department you can get anything done. Serpintine Ave trees scalped every few years and ruined simply because 1 person knows the person to do it. He destroyed the trees and still keeps his job. Brown Envelopes get a lot done in Ireland.
IF THEY REALLY CARED ABOUT THESE BIRDS THEN WHY ARE THEY SO ACTIVE IN BRINGING IN HAWKS AND OTHER SIMILAR BIRDS OF PREY WHO EAT 3 TO 4 SONGBIRDS A DAY?
Unless they want food for these birds?
It will only cost half if they are cut during the winter when the summer growth has died back.If the owners got a date to have the hedges cut or a contractor would be appointed by the local council and the owner billed this issue would be sorted fairly lively..We are in this mess because of years of neglect and inaction by those paid well to maintain the roads.
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