Hi,
I am not sure wher on here to post this, so forgive me if I have the wrong place?
My house is small, and I have a small front garden with is 'hedged' by a row of well established leylandii which is home to many birds, and is generally alive with them. The leylandii block my property from the main road. Tonight i have arrived home finding that the leylandii had been severely lopped right back to the trunk from base to tip on the far side. The trees only extended approx 3/4 of a metre beyone the trunk on the far side, but the foliage was full and thick. There is no longer any foliage on the far side, adn the trees in effect are haldf of what they were
I have made a formal complaint with the contractors (who were instructed by people responsible to widening the road outside my property) Part of my complaint is irrelevant to this forum-that I no longer have any privacy from the main road. The other part, and the bit that has me still seething is that the leylandii provided home to so many different birds, and their homes/nexts have now been destroyed. The contractors response when i told him i believed he had commited an offence in that there were birds nesting in the trees. his reply is that 'no birds nest in Leylandii'
Not having grown up in the Uk, can someone please confirm that i am right in thinking that birds do in fact nest in leylandii! I know when I prune each year in November there are remainders of nests
Many thanks
H :-)
Hi H, sorry to hear about whats happened in this act of vandalism! There's some smart people on here who know about law and birds and if they have destroyed nests then they have broken the law therefore the contractors should get a fine. To get more folk to notice your thread you could change the title to mention possible nest destruction. Hopefully someone will give you more advice!
Cheers, Jason
Hello H, I was sorry to hear about the severe cut back of your Leylandii by the Contractor; there was something mentioned in another thread about destroying a hedge area which had potential nests and this is part of the answer that Mrs. T. gave so hope it helps ...
to quote part of what Mrs. T. said ............
"There is, however, a piece of law (Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981) that protects all wild birds and their nests, whilst they are active (i.e. in the process of being built and have eggs or young in them). It is a criminal offence to INTENTIONALLY damage or destroy an active nest of a wild bird. Therefore if you are cutting down a hedge or tree, knowing full well that your actions will cause the nest to be destroyed, you will be breaking the law.
If you see people do this kind of work and you know full well there are birds actively nesting in that tree/hedge, then it would be best to point the nest out to them/or their contractors. If they choose to ignore your advice and continue, then I would recommend contacting your COUNTY police station and bringing it to the attention of the Wildlife Crime officer, who will have the power to get the work stopped."
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Regards, Hazel