Adjacent trees and birds

[tree-fancier123]

I'm no fan of developers, but had to laugh at this

[Ratman]

I'm no fan of developers, but had to laugh at this

What the chuff! [emoji15][emoji33]

[Mick Dempsey]

It’s in the news lately, developers net trees to prevent birds nesting in them, to stop peeps using that to delay development on certain sites.

[Ty Korrigan]

There is a FB group called 'nests not netting' from which every tree surgeon so far (my turn tonight) has been banned.

 Stuart

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, devon TWiG said:

The law states that it is illegal to "recklessly or intentionally " destroy or disturb birds and their nests  , sadly it seems some people take the view that they are absolutely sacred , and as others have said above people try to use wildlife and other concerns as a weapon against others  ( nimby versus developer for example )   if there is no evidence of an offence then I can not see any case to answer ....has anyone ever heard of a prosecution for such an offence ??

Unless something has changed the "reckless" word only applies to schedule 1 birds, none of the woodpeckers are in schedule 1. So as the bloke in the red fez did not intentionally disturb any nesting birds and no schedule 1 birds were affected no offence occurred.

 

Of course the only way of not being reckless is to survey for schedule 1 species first

[skyhuck]

People are very short sighted and pretty stupid.

 

Netting trees and hedges is pretty sensible really. They are going to be removed anyway. Far better than rushing to fell, leaving the brash on the ground to be chipped later, only for the birds to then nest in the piles of brash.

 

 Its rather like the people who protest about fracking, while still happy to drive their cars and heat their homes with gas.

[Stubby]

I used to cut a blokes beech hedge at the same time each year . Also at the same time a black bird would nest in it . We became close friends , meeting up each yea  .  She used to pop ion and out with insects for the young without taking much notice of me . This went on for 4 years . Then I topped work and maybe she still goes there . Who knows  ?

[Gary Prentice]

On 14/04/2019 at 21:18, skyhuck said:

People are very short sighted and pretty stupid.

 

Netting trees and hedges is pretty sensible really. They are going to be removed anyway. Far better than rushing to fell, leaving the brash on the ground to be chipped later, only for the birds to then nest in the piles of brash.

 

 Its rather like the people who protest about fracking, while still happy to drive their cars and heat their homes with gas.

I'm not disagreeing, but then again here's lots of issues with birds either getting trapped inside the netting when it's installed or flying into it after installation. It seems a bit of a lose/lose situation either way. 

 

 

On 14/04/2019 at 21:30, EdwardC said:

Yes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-45199725

 

But no but. Dismissed on appeal.

https://www.farminguk.com/News/Farmer-found-guilty-of-disturbing-ospreys-has-conviction-overturned_51623.html

Seems like agricultural exemptions are even more wide ranging than arboricultural ones 

[Stewart Johnson]

The CIEEM (which is the trade body for ecologists) has given recent advice on netting.

Basically, avoid using if possible. Only use if planning permission has been given.

If the site isn't being regularly checked by an ecologist (at least three times a day) heaven help you if a bird (or anything else) dies in the nets.

As for the bird nests, I think so long as you make a proper visual inspection first you're covered. However, ignorance of nests is not a defence under the law, so always check.

Destroying a nest is illegal. Causing sufficient disturbance that a nest is abandoned is illegal.

For schedule 1 birds, disturbing them at all - whether the nest is abandoned or not, is illegal. And note that includes Kingfishers, if working near a river.

Also today Natural England has abandoned the use of General licences which used to be handy to print off to cover yourselves for woodpigeons and crows.

Now for any nest you need to get a specific licence from Natural England or risk prosecution. I don't know how this affects Scotland or Wales.



 

[tree77]

I have a tree to remove with a pigeon nesting in it, once the chicks have flown the nest can I remove the tree before the reuse the nest or has the general license issue changed this?

Many thanks

Tree