BUILDERS NET MORE MONEY AS WILD BIRDS LOSE THEIR HOMES
Saddest sight of the week: trees covered in netting to prevent birds from nesting.
In one construction site in Guildford, Surrey, 11 trees were netted by developer Sladen Estates.
It’s an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act to destroy the nests of wild birds while they are in use, a problem some developers now try to get round by stopping the birds from reaching trees in the first place. “There’s something so small, so ungenerous, so meagre and pinched about preventing birds from nesting in spring,” tweeted nature writer Melissa Harrison.
Sladen Estates admitted that there are no immediate plans to work on the site – so the netting was pointless anyway – and has now promised to remove it “as soon as practically possible” following intervention by Guildford Borough Council. In Ely, Cambridgeshire, nets have been put over trees in the grounds of Highfield Academy school pending building work.
Local painter Lee Madgwick also pleaded: “How about not removing trees at all? Why can’t we work around nature?”
Cambridgeshire County Council admitted that it does not yet have planning permission for the expansion it plans at the school, saying: “The trees have been netted to ensure that no birds start to nest in them while the planning application is still being determined.”
Wildlife broadcaster Chris Packham has condemned the netting of a hedgerow in Lincolnshire by a house builder, saying: “It’s a shameful indictment of mismanagement and a brutal ignorance of how to look after the countryside.”