Flailing hedges (From The Oxford Times)

Flailing hedges

9:20am Thursday 29th July 2010 in

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Sir – Last year, our city council flailed the hedges leading from Binsey village up to the church in July. For 25 years we have had yellowhammers nesting in these hedges.

Yellowhammers are becoming ever more rare in the British countryside, and they will by no means certainly have finished nesting by then. I telephoned the parks department after they had done it and asked them to be aware of these birds and not to cut hedges at this time of year.

I pointed out the advice of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds:Nesting birds — It is an offence under Section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 to intentionally take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built. It will be an intentional act, for example, if you or your neighbour know there is an active nest in the hedge and still cut the hedge, damaging or destroying the nest in the process.”

The RSPB advises not cutting hedges between March and August. The parks department said that people asked for the hedges to be cut for safety’s sake.

I suggested that if the hedges were cut in late February, they would not be overgrown by early September, and that would save these rare birds.

I also pointed out that several councils in England had been successfully sued, and had to pay huge fines, by the RSPB for cutting hedges in summer when they knew birds were nesting there.

This year the hedges were not cut before March. But the city council flailed the hedges, in mid-July. They knew perfectly well the birds were there because I had told them, and yet they did it.

I asked them to stop it, but they still continued to cut all the way down one side of Binsey Lane to the Botley Road. I do not want to sue the city council, they are short enough of money as it is. But how on earth can we persuade the city officers, who are supposed to be working for us, to keep within the law?

Alison Cobb, Binsey