Hedge cutting season in Ireland: when can you cut hedges?

Every spring the same question comes up in Kerry and across the country: is it legal to cut the hedge now? The short answer is that the main hedge cutting season in Ireland runs from 1 September to the last day of February. From 1 March to 31 August there is a closed season during which cutting hedgerows and vegetation on uncultivated land is restricted by law, to protect nesting birds and wildlife.

The detail matters, though, because the rules are aimed at particular kinds of land, there are exemptions for safety, and a separate law protects nesting birds wherever they are. This guide sets out what the law says, how it applies to an ordinary garden hedge, and how to plan your trimming so you are never caught out.

What the law says

The closed season comes from section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976, as amended (most recently by the Heritage Act 2018). It makes it an offence to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy vegetation growing on land not then cultivated, or growing in any hedge or ditch, between 1 March and 31 August in any year. The same section restricts the burning of vegetation on uncultivated land during that period.

The purpose is straightforward. Hedgerows are some of the most important wildlife habitat left in the Irish countryside, and spring and summer are when birds such as blackbirds, robins, wrens, finches and yellowhammers nest in them. Cutting at that time destroys nests, eggs and chicks and removes cover and food.

The law is enforced by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and An Garda Síochána. The NPWS publishes guidance on its website, npws.ie, and citizensinformation.ie also has a plain-English summary of hedge cutting rules. If you are unsure whether a job is allowed, those are the places to check, or contact your local NPWS conservation ranger.

Does the closed season apply to garden hedges?

This is where most confusion arises. Section 40 is written around uncultivated land and hedges or ditches, and it is mainly aimed at field boundaries and roadside hedgerows in the countryside. A neatly kept ornamental hedge inside a suburban garden is generally treated differently from a field hedgerow, and light trimming of a garden hedge is not usually the target of the closed season.

That does not mean anything goes in the summer. Two points apply to every hedge, garden or not:

• Nesting birds are protected all year round. Under the Wildlife Acts it is an offence to wilfully take, damage or destroy the nest of a wild bird while it is in use, or to wilfully destroy or disturb eggs or young. A garden hedge with an active nest in it is covered just as much as a field hedge.
• Many "garden" hedges are really hedgerows. In rural Kerry a hedge along the boundary of a house can be an old field boundary of whitethorn, blackthorn, holly, fuchsia and briars. If it borders farmland or the road and has grown wild, treat it as a hedgerow and keep to the season.

The safest approach is simple: do any substantial cutting, reducing or laying of hedges between September and February, and limit spring and summer work to light trimming of formal garden hedges after checking carefully for nests.

Exemptions: roads, safety and works

The Act allows some cutting during the closed season. The main exemptions include:

• cutting or clearing vegetation for reasons of public health or safety by a Minister, a statutory body or a local authority;
• clearing vegetation in the course of road or other construction works, or for the development or preparation of sites on which a building is to be constructed;
• certain agricultural and forestry operations, such as cutting isolated bushes or clumps of gorse in the ordinary course of farming;
• works needed to keep roads and footpaths safe.

Landowners also have a duty under section 70 of the Roads Act 1993 to make sure that trees, hedges and other vegetation on their land are not a danger to people using a public road, for example by blocking sight lines at a junction or hanging over the carriageway. A local authority can serve a notice requiring the owner to cut back dangerous growth. Where a hedge is a genuine road safety hazard during the closed season, the work needed to make it safe can be done, but it should be limited to what is necessary.

The best time to cut a hedge

Within the open season some months are better than others.

Period	What to do
September to October	Legal, but many hedges are still full of berries, haws and seeds that birds rely on through the autumn. Fine for formal garden hedges; for wildlife hedgerows it is better to wait.
November to December	Good time for overgrown hedges and boundary hedgerows once leaves have dropped and you can see the structure. Avoid frosty days for heavy cutting.
January to February	Ideal for wildlife-friendly cutting: most berries have been eaten and the work is finished before birds start nesting. Book any contractor early, because demand peaks at the end of February.
March to August	Closed season for hedgerows. Light trimming of formal garden hedges only, after a careful check for nests.

How to check a hedge for nests

If you do need to trim a garden hedge in late spring or summer, take five minutes to look first:

1. Watch the hedge from a distance for a few minutes. Birds flying in and out of the same spot, especially carrying food or nest material, are a clear sign.
2. Look into the hedge at different heights. Blackbird and thrush nests are often at chest height in dense growth; wrens and robins can nest low down or in ivy.
3. Listen for chicks calling.
4. If you find an active nest, leave that section alone until the young have fledged, which usually takes a few weeks. Trim the rest by hand rather than with a powered hedge cutter.

Cutting a hedge well

A good cut keeps the hedge dense and healthy as well as tidy:

• Shape it wider at the base. An "A" profile lets light reach the bottom of the hedge, so it stays thick rather than going bare and gappy underneath.
• Do not cut every hedge every year. On boundary hedgerows, cutting on a two- or three-year rotation, or cutting one side one year and the other the next, leaves flowering and fruiting wood for wildlife.
• Raise the cutting height gradually. Cutting a few centimetres above the previous cut each time stops the hedge becoming a mass of hard knuckles.
• Leave some hedge trees. Holly, ash and whitethorn saplings allowed to grow up out of a hedgerow become valuable trees over time.
• Clear up. Remove cuttings from roads and footpaths, and do not burn green waste: the burning of household waste, including garden waste, is generally not allowed, and burning vegetation on uncultivated land is restricted during the closed season as well.

Safety when cutting hedges

Powered hedge trimmers and ladders cause a lot of avoidable injuries. Use a stable platform or a properly footed ladder on firm ground, keep both hands on the trimmer, wear eye protection and gloves, and never reach out to the side from a ladder. Watch for overhead electricity lines, and if a hedge or tree is near a power line, contact ESB Networks rather than cutting it yourself. Roadside work needs proper signage and, often, a second person to watch traffic.

For tall boundary hedges, overgrown trees or anything near a road, it is usually worth bringing in someone with the right equipment. Alpine Home Improvements lists tree services among its handyman services in County Kerry.