Suffering death by a thousand cuts

IT’S ironic that a time of a year when new life begins to spring forth, we also have large-scale destruction of natural features of the landscape and wildlife habitat, in Ireland.

Illegal hedgerow cutting is damaging to wildlife and the Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) is appealing to land managers to stop.

Hedge cutting typically starts in late February and March and continues well into the summer months but – unless for reasons of health and safety – this practice is prohibited by the Wildlife Act from March 1 to August 31.