Check your bushes, don't cut them yet (UK)

[Donna]

Unable to ignore the straggly foliage or unruly tree branches seemingly taking over your garden at the moment?

You are among the millions of gardeners who will be thinking about trimming them ready for winter in the next few weeks.

But the RSPB is appealing to people to wait a while until cutting their hedges if possible.

If you cut them this early you could be starving birds and mammals of a vital fruit supply, as many plants will still have an abundance of berries which could see the birds through the winter.
Last year’s winter larder of berries on shrubs and hedges meant the difference between life and death for many resident birds and winter visitors.

You could also disturb late nesting birds as you hack away at greenery as they may still be resident in shrubs and hedges

Peak breeding season has ended but garden birds like pigeons and collared doves have extended breeding periods and may still be nesting.

Most garden birds breed between March and August but some species will be on their nests until late into September.

All bird’s nests and eggs are protected by law and it is illegal to deliberately destroy nests in your garden and the wider countryside.

The RSPB is also urging local authorities to hold back on cutting hedges for a few weeks yet where possible.

Many have to cut hedges for path access or horticultural reasons for example, but where there is flexibility, the wildlife charity suggests waiting until the end of summer.

If maintenance is unavoidable at this time, the RSPB asks that gardeners, local authorities and contractors consider nesting birds and do preliminary inspections.

The RSPB’s Val Osborne, says: “Many calls to the RSPB’s Wildlife Enquiries line at the moment are from people that have started hedge trimming and discovered a nest.

“It is very disturbing for gardeners to think they have upset their garden birds and they worry that they may fly the nest and the young won’t survive.

“Save yourself a job and avoid it for a few weeks yet, ideally until late September at the earliest. But if you do need to do it sooner for safety reasons perhaps, try and replace any greenery as much as possible so as not to deter the birds.�

[carla]

Great article,
I'm not used to read larger messages because there are to many words in it which I have to search for in my dictionary.It cost me to much time.But this time I read the whole article and I'm totally agree.I don't trim almost nothing before wintertime,to give the birds enough places to survive the cold winternights.
Thanks for sharing.Greetings Carla

[Kris G.]

My husband cut our Spirea bushes about 3 weeks ago and there was a nest with 2 eggs-all its covering was now gone.  He felt bad but by that time, it was too late to do anything but watch.  One of the eggs hatched, the other egg disappeared and within a few days, the baby bird was gone too.    Maybe a predator-we'll never know.  Next time we'll wait a little longer before trimming.

[Patti from Kentucky]

This is a pet peeve of mine...particularly drives me crazy when I see people trimming or taking down big trees in the spring or summer, when you know the trees are full of nests that are incredibly well camouflaged.  When in winter I can suddenly see multiple nests in just about every tree, you know they are there in the summer but folks just don't see them (or perhaps don't care).

[Donna]

Yeah, I stopped my brother in law from trimming his hedges on the side of his house. I noticed a sparrow going in and out. I checked it out and there were 3 babies in 1 teeny tiny nest. Wow, they grew and flew very quickly. Within days they were gone. He would have clipped the nest for sure. I'm always looking for nests.