Wildlife garden
Bird-friendly pruning: working around the nesting season
Bird-friendly pruning means doing hard pruning and hedge renovation between mid-August and mid-March, and during the nesting season only trimming lightly after checking that there is no active nest.
What to do
- Plan hard pruning, renovation and coppicing of shrubs for winter, before mid-March.
- Trim hedges preferably from late August to mid-September; a light trim at the end of June is possible, after checking.
- Before you cut, watch the hedge for a few minutes: are birds flying in and out, can you hear chicks calling? Then leave a wide area around the nest, or wait a few weeks.
- Don’t prune everything at once: leave parts of the hedge or a few shrubs alone for a year, so they flower and carry berries.
- Put the prunings on a dead hedge instead of taking them away.
Why it helps
- From about mid-March to mid-August, blackbirds, dunnocks, wrens and robins nest in hedges and shrubs. Disturbing or destroying an active nest is against the law, in Belgium and in the Netherlands.
- A hedge or shrub that is not cut back hard every year flowers and carries berries: food for insects in summer and for birds in winter.
Which plants?
- Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna Broadleaf tree · flowers May Native
- Hornbeam Carpinus betulus Broadleaf tree · flowers April–May Native
- Beech Fagus sylvatica Broadleaf tree · flowers April–May Native
- Wild privet Ligustrum vulgare Shrub · flowers June–July NativePoisonous
- Yew Taxus baccata Conifer NativePoisonous
- Holly Ilex aquifolium Broadleaf tree · flowers May NativePoisonous
- Common ivy Hedera helix Climber · flowers September–November NativePoisonous
When?
August–February.
Garden jobs in JanuaryGarden jobs in FebruaryGarden jobs in AugustGarden jobs in SeptemberGarden jobs in OctoberGarden jobs in NovemberGarden jobs in December
Take up the challenge
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Put up a nest box (February–March)
Hang a nest box 2 to 3 m up, with the opening facing east or south-east, out of the strong sun and wind.
Did you know? A blackbird nests two to three times a year and builds a new nest each time: that is why the nesting season lasts so long.
Read more
- When should you cut your hedge? The nesting season and the best times
- Pruning fruit trees: apple, pear, cherry and plum
- Pruning calendar