cutting hedges deadline

Tomjim

when is the last date hedges may be cut

johnboy6930

1st of march if your going by the book ...but sur you could tip away until April anyway..!

Bizzum

The way the seasons are going there'll be birds nesting by then!

blue5000

Bizzum wrote: »

The way the seasons are going there'll be birds nesting by then!

Fair point, someone saw frogspawn in their garden already. Land is v wet still but I reckon we've no chance of getting an extension on this one.

5live

johnboy6930 wrote: »

1st of march if your going by the book ...but sur you could tip away until April anyway..!

I think hedges on public roads may be cut any time of year for road safety reasons but only those ones

Capercaillie

Hedge-cutting times changed.

farmerjj

Capercaillie wrote: »

Hedge-cutting times changed.

To what??

ganmo

farmerjj wrote: »

To what??

Hedge cutting opening in August
And burning extended till end of March

barnaman

http://www.ahg.gov.ie/minister-humphreys-to-allow-flexibility-for-hedge-cutting-and-burning-on-pilot-basis/

Statement from Minister

The Act seems to have been change in part already as the closed season always was the 01 March to 31 August. Under Roads Act always could cut dangerous trees hedge etc.

The Wildlife Act 1976 s.40 governs this see:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1976/act/39/section/40/enacted/en/html

As of today the season is longer as an extra 6 weeks March/April" 40.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 15th day of April and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry.

Capercaillie

Hedgecutting in August will kill late nesting birds like yellowhammers. Already on the way to extinction. Well done Minister! Burning in March will affect Red Grouse another species on the brink. The fact of the matter if people break the law burning they will not be prosecuted eitherways, so the law is a bit of a joke to begin with.

barnaman

Capercaille welcome to Ireland! The note I linked reads thus

The Minister announced a public consultation on Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts at the end of 2014 and almost 200 submissions were received. Under Section 40, a closed period operates from 1 March to 31 August, during which the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction of vegetation is generally prohibited.

Yet the legislation has already been changed! Cannot understand it! The problem is cutting on wet land etc. Personally I think a fairer option might be your farm has 10km of hedgrows. Of that 10km you can cut 500m /year during the old closed season ie August. Issue then is who inspects it.

ganmo

land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry.

That bit is different too.

As the law stands any burning we do here would be considered illegal due to proximity of forestry. But as a result of a fire that came in over the hill back in my granddads time that threatened the coilte forest we look on what burning we do as a public service.

Capercaillie

barnaman wrote: »

Capercaille welcome to Ireland! The note I linked reads thus

The Minister announced a public consultation on Section 40 of the Wildlife Acts at the end of 2014 and almost 200 submissions were received. Under Section 40, a closed period operates from 1 March to 31 August, during which the cutting, grubbing, burning or destruction of vegetation is generally prohibited.

Yet the legislation has already been changed! Cannot understand it! The problem is cutting on wet land etc. Personally I think a fairer option might be your farm has 10km of hedgrows. Of that 10km you can cut 500m /year during the old closed season ie August. Issue then is who inspects it.

Nobody will inspect because it is not a priority of DAFM

Here's An Taisce take on it.
http://www.antaisce.org/articles/minister-humphries-gives-an-early-christmas-present-to-the-ifa-as-ireland%E2%80%99s-wildlife-once

IFA take on it:
http://www.ifa.ie/movement-on-hedge-cutting-and-burning-dates-a-positive-first-step-ifa/#.VnsWXhWLTIV

IFA Environment Chairman Harold Kingston said bringing forward the hedge cutting date by a month is very practical as it will contribute to better hedgerow management where hedges have been overgrown. “It will also impact positively on road safety as has been highlighted by the Road Safety Authority. It will address farm safety concerns as the current arrangements mean that it is confined to periods when daylight has reduced.”

Pure bull**** as it is already legal to cut at any time for road safety reasons.

ganmo

And anTaisce's hadn't a shade of **** about it?
They have set themselves up as an anti farming organisation where once they were just a busy body organisation

Capercaillie

ganmo wrote: »

And anTaisce's hadn't a shade of **** about it?
They have set themselves up as an anti farming organisation where once they were just a busy body organisation

Don't agree with their stance on a lot of things. Against GMO, nuclear power, herbicides. Cannot disagree with anything in that press statement though.

barnaman

What I do no understand is that none of the bodies have referred to the the closed season not starting until 6 weeks later. With a mild year lots of nests on the go in April.

The biggest issue is not being able to get onto land in open season as it is too wet. Has to be some work around I got docked for hedges growing into field in one field by a river just to wet to cut in open season.

Birdnuts

Capercaillie wrote: »

Nobody will inspect because it is not a priority of DAFM

In general its NPWS rangers that deal with cases of illegal cutting. Of course that depends on whether illegalities get reported by the public or if your local ranger is up to much - the latter being highly variable across the country.

As for bringing the cutting season back into august. Leaving aside the obvious potential damage to wildlife in hedges, it doesn't make such sense from a farming perspective either since August is one of the wettest months of the year and as anyone with even a vague interest in weather knows, September is actually your best chance of a settled spell to do such work in. This year being a case in point. Anyway the minister concerned has shown no interest or competency in her brief on any heritage issue so in many ways I'm not surprised by such a move:rolleyes:


@barnaman - the closed season for cutting hedges still starts on March 1st. It is the burning season that will now run until the start of April. And from what I read in the IFG today, only in certain areas signed off by the minister

barnaman

The closed season has changed Birdnuts the Wildlife Act 1976 s.40 now reads

40.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 15th day of April and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry.

Birdnuts

barnaman wrote: »

The closed season has changed Birdnuts the Wildlife Act 1976 s.40 now reads

40.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 15th day of April and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry.

Something a bit odd going on there cos it still has the cut-off date as the 31st of August as well as that reference to April. None of the stuff I've read in the IFJ or elsewhere mentioned the later start to the closed season. I'm going to look on the NPWS site to see if there is any clarification on this.

Birdnuts

barnaman wrote: »

The closed season has changed Birdnuts the Wildlife Act 1976 s.40 now reads

40.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 15th day of April and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated or in course of cultivation for agriculture or forestry.

OK - I just looked at the NPWS site and I can see where the confusion has come from on this. The piece of legislation you are quoting is from the original 1976 act - but this was updated in 2000 to bring the closed season back to the start of March

From a PDF file on the NPWS site

"The main purposes of Section 40 are to protect bird life during the nesting season, to prevent forest fires, and to protect vegetation and wildlife habitats during the months of growth and reproduction. A closed period between 1 March and 31 August is set out in the legislation, during which a prohibition is in place on the destruction of any vegetation on “land not then cultivated” and of any vegetation growing in a ditch or hedge. There are limited exemptions to this, for example, for health and safety reasons, the destruction of noxious weeds, during works permitted under statute etc. The full provisions of the section are set out in the Appendix.
The current closed period is based on the generally recognised nesting and breeding period for wild birds. In the original Wildlife Act, 1976, the dates for the period were 15 April to 31 August but were extended by the Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000 to the current dates - primarily to afford further protection to wild birds. However, it is worth noting that the provisions are not about protecting just birds, but a range of biodiversity that contributes to food chains and wider ecosystems.

have2flushtwice

Is coppicing the thinning and flattening of hedgerows with the aim to thicken them and encourage regrowth?

Do you do this yourselves or get someone in to do it?

It seems to be part of the glas i think.