Heather v Hedges

Our wildlife is again under severe threat from interfering, ecologically oblivious politicians. Heritage Minister Heather Humphreys is committed to extending the period during which vegetation in the countryside can be cut and burned.

Currently, there’s a ban on hedge-cutting up to the end of August. There is an extremely good reason for this prohibition: Hedgerows offer shelter, sustenance and vital nesting sites to a range of bird species as well as playing a crucial role in flood defences in some regions.

August is a month when wildlife desperately needs the refuge hedgerows provide. Flower species bloom in that month, feeding bees and butterfly pollinators. Birds continue to nest into September, so nests can be destroyed and the chicks harmed as debris is hurled at them by the hedge-cutting machinery.

The burning of hedges inflicts horrific injury and death on vulnerable birds at this time of year, with the charred or dismembered carcasses of yellowhammers and other birds greeting walkers in many parts of Ireland where this practice is carried out illegally.

Yet despite all the evidence of the impact of this insidious environmental vandalism, the minister wants to press ahead.

Our wildlife is a precious resource that needs careful and enforceable protection, for the sake of the creatures that share this island with us, and for the sake of future generations.

John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.