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I've been looking at our hedge and while it is bushy on the outside, on the inside there isn't a lot there so it isn't really that great for nesting birds as it doesn't provide really dense cover (there are robins nesting there, but in a roosting pouch). I'm wondering if, in the autum, I cut it right back will this encourage more bushy growth to provide better nesting habitat for the birds? I think it's a pyracantha.
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KatTai said: I've been looking at our hedge and while it is bushy on the outside, on the inside there isn't a lot there so it isn't really that great for nesting birds as it doesn't provide really dense cover (there are robins nesting there, but in a roosting pouch). I'm wondering if, in the autum, I cut it right back will this encourage more bushy growth to provide better nesting habitat for the birds? I think it's a pyracantha.
Hi Kat
If it's a Pyracantha you can cut it back as much as you like. You won't be able to kill it.
When they age they tend to get so much dead wood in the centre that they become impenetrable, and cutting it right back will encourage new bushy green growth.
You will lose your berries for this Winter though, but next Spring it will look lovely and fresh.
Best wishes Chris
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Thanks for the advice both! Looks like the pyracantha is in for some pretty hard pruning this autumn! I'll probably cut it right back almost to the trunk as it is all hollow inside, but it seems to grow really quick. Might actually enable me to add another hedging plant to it as there are is a couple of gaps - there was another couple of plants in there, but they were severely outcompeted by the pyracantha so I'm thinking of maybe getting some well-grown on holly shrubs to try.
I've got a copper beech hedge and I get it cut twice a year once around now and once mid to late autumn and its beautifully thick in the middle......no naked bits, and its a great place for the birds.
If only I could be free as the birds the places I could visit would be out of this world