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Time to put hedge trimmers back in the shed

4/3/2024

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Picture
Blackbird (Derek Moore)
This week saw a big increase in activity at my local rookery, in a copse and a handful of roadside trees at the edge of the village. In just a few days, the Rook colony has grown from one to 20 nests, with lots of squabbling over the best sticks. As days lengthen, the birds get busy. Blackbirds built a nest in my back garden in mid-February, and their low visibility suggests they’re now on eggs.

So it’s timely that the North Wales Wildlife Trust has issued a reminder to householders not to cut garden hedges until 31 August, as birds’ nests are legally protected. Farmers were also required to stop cutting from 1 March, as a condition of the Basic Payment Scheme. Welsh Government says that roadside hedges must not be cut if birds are nesting but even if no nests are found, only work necessary to resolve safety issues should be undertaken during the breeding season, and then works kept to a minimum and hand tools used.

St David’s Day also signalled the date that dogs must be on a short lead (no more than two metres) on Open Access land, irrespective of whether there is livestock. Some of our most threatened birds, such as Lapwings and Ringed Plovers, nest on the ground and are vulnerable to dogs. Dorset Police took action against the owner of one caught on camera taking eggs from a Curlew nest in the New Forest. Fences keep dogs and larger wild mammals out of Wales’ only Little Tern colonies at Point of Ayr and Gronant, and North Wales Little Tern Group has expressed relief that funding has been secured to employ wardens at the latter site this summer.

Many winter visitors are yet to leave, however. Up to 70 Waxwings remained at Halkyn on Sunday, Surf and Velvet Scoters off Llanddulas, and Greenland White-fronted Geese in the Cefni Valley. Cattle Egrets are at RSPB Cors Ddyga and the Clwyd estuary, and a Siberian Chiffchaff at RSPB Conwy. A Snow Bunting at Holyhead was snatched by a Peregrine. Two Sand Martins were reported at Morfa Nefyn last week, with a smattering of summer migrants elsewhere in southern Britain.
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