In reply to Sue Boase’s letter (Spare that hedgerow and save our wildlife, 10 September), it has been the policy of county councils all over the country for at least 20 years to not cut roadside hedges at all between March and November, principally to accommodate nesting birds, but it also covers most of the autumn food for them.
However, the job of actually doing the cutting is contracted out, often to local farmers, who have to get a lot of hedges done so sometimes start earlier. They have not read the policy documents.
If this happens in your area, phone, email or write to the transportation department of the relevant county council (it will have a website with all the department contacts). The county biodiversity officer and ecologist (if they still have them after the cuts) will be on your side, but transportation is higher up the pecking order because of “road safety”. As I have to pay the local farmer for cutting my hedges, I tell him when he cannot do it.
Jan Miller
Holywell, Flintshire
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