Wildlife UK Forum - Discuss the UK countryside and wildlife

I am afraid to say that I hve had the worst day ever in terms of my wildlife watching in my two and a half years of living here

One of the neighbours had a hedge that was about twenty metres long, about ten feet high and ten feet deep has today decided to chop it down to four feet. It ajoins part of my garden and tomorrow he infomed me that he is going to chop that back down to 6 feet, as well as lop the tall tree that is growing in the hedge. Whilst I fully understand his reasons for doing so (letting light into the garden) I am not happy a) because of the time of year - birds nesting which I am very very sure there are plenty of them. b) because he started cutting down ours without telling us c) because the top of our garden was just like a sanctury to me - not over looked, quiet and peaceful with absoulutely tons of birds that travelled through the hedges that now have no 'corridoor' to travel into our garden. It feels like a complete lack of respect for the wildlfie there as well as us as we will now be terribly overlooked and I am really really worried that the birds will not return and I will not be able to persue my favourite pastime in my own garden as the birds will have no habitat there to travel safely through. That bit of my garden was like a small wood and a piece of the countryside in the continuingly developed area that I live in.

Therefore, does anyone have any suggestions of plants and trees that I can grow to compensate for the hedge being chopped down that will quickly attract the birds?

Hopefully I will be able to catch the guy before he starts tomorrow and say we will give our hedge a trim so he does not take too much off.

I am very very sad and upset and can't wait until the day I can move out of the suburb I live in (which only today has felt really horrible) to move to somewhere where the wildlife and people are respected a bit more.

It's illegal to cut a bush if there is a bird's nest in it at this time of year isn't it?

I thought so... Its a bit late now There are still birds in my garden though, but none have eated the food that is on the table right by the hedge that has just been cut down - that used to go really quickly before.

I am however getting the mulch and lots of twigs so at least I can make a nice big log pile for the creepy crawlies.

Well, we can hope that the birds will return when they realise that at least part of the hedge is there.

Sad, but it looks as if he headed you off at the pass by not letting you know of his decision until too late for you to protest.

Kingfisher

aarrrggghh this sort of thing makes me so angry, thers no need for it at all!! and as soon as the sun comes out everyone seems to think its great to get the hedgecutters out and start on the hedges no matter that its the middle of the breeding season, i've seen a lot of people doing that this week

Yes, I agree and I can here the electric hedgecutters all over the place, some people just don't care.

That's terrible! Can't believe your neighbour just went and did that without informing you first.

If it's his hedge on his land, he has every right to cut it down if he so wishes, the moral right to do so at this time of year is a different matter.

May I suggest you do as we did when developers moved in and built a load of houses on the old school at the bottom of my garden - I planted a hedge of native hawthorn, with saplings about 60cm high closely spaced. Now, 5 or so years later, I have a thick hedge which is full of birds.

I am glad to say that although that hedge has not grown back yet, I do have several other parts of the hedge that I have grown and the sparrows live in there now... And I have planted lots of shrubs that will hopefully grow into suitable nesting habitats

we have an empty house two doors down and the last owner let the garden overgrow and there is a rather large copse at the bottom of this garden now and the neighbour between me and this garden has done his best to wreck any nests ect in this garden by cutting down some of the tree's in it.
after me explaining to him that after living in an urban situation for most of my life if he had done the same he might appreciate the rural area's a little more and with a shrug of the shoulders he went on cutting.
I then reminded him that it was illegal to cut down tree's unless he had permission (took a flier as I don't know this for certain) and he stopped,trust me to move next to an unthinking,uncaring idiot who does not know when he is well off, hates nature,hates animals,its all a nuisance to him I even had to go an open a window in his greenhouse to let out a sparrow last year...................does anyone else have such a neighbour ...............or is it just me ....being old?

roger.