Digger work this time of year

duffysfarm

Would it be ok to do some digger work tidying up a field this time of the year which given that you can't cut ditches from 1 March? The world would involve tidying up bushes and overgrown ditches in a field that has been let grow wild.

wrangler

duffysfarm wrote: »

Would it be ok to do some digger work tidying up a field this time of the year which given that you can't cut ditches from 1 March? The world would involve tidying up bushes and overgrown ditches in a field that has been let grow wild.

Here's the law, it seems you can't do anything like that....... or not get caught at it anyway

''Section 40 of the Wildlife Act, 1976, as amended by Section 46 of the 2000 Act, provides protection for hedgerows by providing that it shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions. It is important that, where possible, necessary work to hedgerows is carried out outside this period.''

duffysfarm

wrangler wrote: »

Here's the law, it seems you can't do anything like that....... or not get caught at it anyway

''Section 40 of the Wildlife Act, 1976, as amended by Section 46 of the 2000 Act, provides protection for hedgerows by providing that it shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions. It is important that, where possible, necessary work to hedgerows is carried out outside this period.''

thanks for the reply and if thats the law then thats the law and the work will just have to wait. the only comment i would have is that in the quote above it says "where possible" - to me that would leave it a bit open to interpretation? in my case the land is along a road and to be able to fence along the road i would need to tidy up the ditch to be able to fence along it so cattle did not break out on to a road.

fepper

It would make a great job to pack all the debris well into the ditch to close it up and it would actually be safer for nesting when done,

wrangler

duffysfarm wrote: »

thanks for the reply and if thats the law then thats the law and the work will just have to wait. the only comment i would have is that in the quote above it says "where possible" - to me that would leave it a bit open to interpretation? in my case the land is along a road and to be able to fence along the road i would need to tidy up the ditch to be able to fence along it so cattle did not break out on to a road.

I have land down a small road, and the land at the far end of the road has been developed with sites :mad:
Twice in teh last 5 years landowners have been reported so there's always some ''jobsworth''ready to shop ya
I was one of the reported, the resident's decided to breast the ditches as the bin lorry couldn't get down to them......never asked permission off me so at least once the residents said they arranged it I was off the hook.
I even told them that I'd look after my own ditches years before when they wanted to collect money to pay for keeping the ditches on teh road, I cut mine every year so it wasn't my ditch that was blocking the bin lorry but it was mine they were at when the Parks and wildlife arrived