Tomorrow (Thursday, September 1) marks the end of the prohibited season for hedge cutting in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Farmers and agri-contractors alike are permitted to cut hedgerows from September 1 to April 30.
According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the cutting, grubbing, burning or other destruction of “vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch” is prohibited between March 1 and August 31.
The hedge-cutting season opens as Teagasc’s Hedgerow Week draws to a close tomorrow (Friday, September 2).
The event, which got underway on August 26, promotes awareness of the role that hedgerows can play in improving biodiversity and capturing carbon. In addition to this, it promotes better recognition and responsible maintenance of these structures.
The theme of this year’s campaign was ‘Best practice hedge cutting for our two hedge types’ and the campaign coincided with the opening of the hedge-cutting season.
Each of the two hedge types in Ireland have different biodiversity values and management needs, according to Catherine Keena, Teagasc’s countryside management specialist.
Escaped hedges, which have never been topped, are thin at the base but have “huge biodiversity value in the canopy”, said Keena, who said that these should be side trimmed but never topped.
Meanwhile, as well as a valuable canopy, topped hedges have a denser base, which is extremely important in biodiversity as it provides a habitat for nesting birds and small mammals. Keena outlined how this type should be maintained:
“Best-practice management for topped hedges is to side trim from a wide base to a triangular shape, leaving the peak as high as possible, but at least 1.5m above ground level or top of bank, and retain occasional thorn saplings to mature as thorn trees.”
It is recommended that all farms have a proportion of both hedgerow types, and farmers should ensure they can distinguish between the two, to avoid mismanagement.