Farmers will be forced to cut hedges much more aggressively under European environmental rules, which will have a negative impact on wildlife, according to the National Farmers’ Union.
The landscape will be altered as rows of flourishing shrubs, trees and flowers are hacked back to a uniform height in a few short weeks of savage cutting.
From next year, the period when hedge-cutting is banned to protect nesting farmland birds will be extended to include August.
Farmers are already forbidden to cut hedges from March 1 to July 31. The NFU said extending the ban would result in them adopting a simple “one size fits all” approach in order to cram the flailing into a few days in September, when they are busy finishing the harvest and sowing crops for the next year.
Farmers typically fit in some hedge cutting on wet days in August when they cannot harvest. Any who cut in August next year will be penalised by having several thousand pounds deducted from their annual subsidy payments, with much higher penalties for repeat offenders.
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Guy Gagen, the NFU’s chief arable adviser, said the tighter rules would make farmers less willing to let hedges grow in a variety of shapes and heights. They would cut deeply rather than trim because in subsequent years they might not have enough time to complete the task or it might be too wet in September to manage their hedges.
“You would have to cut them harder because you would have less opportunity to do it when you want to do it. You will end up having all the hedges cut at once. It could have the opposite effect to the one intended, with a worse outcome for some wildlife species,” said Mr Gagen.
The RSPB successfully lobbied for the longer ban after producing evidence that threatened birds, including yellowhammers and turtle doves, were still nesting in August. Other birds that may still be rearing chicks in hedges in August include grey partridges, wood pigeons, song thrushes, goldfinches, linnets and cirl buntings.
However, the NFU said cutting hedges in September, when butterflies and moths were laying eggs in them, would result in fewer larvae for birds to eat the next spring. Cutting all the hedges in the same month would make them flower at the same time rather than over an extended period, meaning that bees and other pollinators would face shortages of pollen and nectar.
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Richard Winspear, an RSPB agricultural adviser, said: “We don’t see a need for more aggressive September hedge-cutting.
“Ideally farmers should be cutting hedgerows on a three-year rotation in late winter. This should save them money and effort while encouraging the production of hedgerow berries, so needed by farmland wildlife.”