Protecting nesting birds from flails and fires

About two-thirds of Ireland's farmland birds nest in hedges, which act as a kind of surrogate habitat for the woodlands that have been cleared from the Irish landscape

Under the Wildlife Act, it is against the law to cut, burn, or otherwise destroy vegetation, including hedges, between March 1 and August 31, with few exemptions

The past few weeks have seen hedge cutters active, flailing, topping, and trimming hedges all over the country, completing the work before the legal cut-off at the beginning of March. Trimming is mostly carried out to prevent roadside hedges from becoming too bulky — most hedges need periodic trimming to maintain a good structure. A functional hedge must be thick and impenetrable to farm animals which generally means sensitive trimming every few years.

Done well, trimming encourages the growth of thorny side shoots and prevents hedgerow shrubs from becoming too ‘leggy’. Having a 'good fat bottom' is a key feature of a healthy farm hedge, both in terms of its role as a functional feature and its benefits for wildlife. For starters, a thickly growing base is an effective barrier for farm animals, and provides them with good shelter against inclement weather too. The dense lower layers also happen to be where many songbirds will build their nests, safely tucked away among a tangle of thorny branches, out of reach of the crows and magpies that might otherwise steal eggs and nestlings.