When to Cut Your Hedge in South East London (and the Bird Nesting Rules)
Hedges are one of the most common jobs we get asked about across Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Dartford, and the question is nearly always the same: when is the right time to cut? The honest answer depends on the type of hedge you have, how neat you want it, and whether birds are using it. Here is a plain guide to getting the timing right.
The best times to trim most hedges
For most garden hedges, two trims a year keeps them looking sharp and healthy. The first is in late spring or early summer, once the main burst of new growth has slowed down. The second is in late summer or early autumn, which tidies up the season's growth and leaves the hedge neat going into winter.
Try to avoid cutting during very hot, dry spells, as freshly cut foliage can scorch and the plant is already under stress. A hard cut late in autumn can also encourage soft new shoots that get damaged by the first frosts.
Formal and informal hedges
Formal hedges, such as privet, box, yew, beech and hornbeam, are the clipped, straight-sided kind. They usually look best with regular trimming, typically twice a year, and fast growers like privet may need an extra tidy in between. Cutting the sides with a slight taper, so the hedge is a little narrower at the top than at the base, lets light reach the lower branches and helps stop the bottom going thin.
Informal hedges are looser and often made up of flowering or berrying shrubs such as hawthorn, pyracantha or escallonia. These generally only need one trim a year, but the timing matters more. Cutting flowering hedges soon after they finish flowering gives them time to set next year's buds, and holding off on berrying hedges until the berries are over keeps the colour and the food for wildlife.
Conifers and leylandii: don't cut into brown wood
Conifer hedges, including leylandii, need a bit more care. Most conifers will not regrow from old brown wood, so if you cut back past the green growth you can be left with bare patches that may never fill in. Yew is the notable exception and will regrow from older wood.
With leylandii and similar conifers, little and often is the rule. Trim regularly so you only ever take off green growth, and keep the hedge at the height and width you want rather than letting it get away from you. Once a conifer hedge has grown far too big, there is often no way to bring it back to a smaller size without leaving brown patches.
The bird nesting season
The main bird nesting season runs roughly from March to August, although some birds nest earlier or later depending on the weather. Hedges are one of their favourite nesting spots, so this is the time to be most careful.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is an offence to intentionally damage or destroy the nest of a wild bird while it is in use or being built. That applies in private gardens just as much as anywhere else.
In practice, that means always checking before you cut, whatever the time of year. Spend a few minutes watching the hedge for birds flying in and out, and look carefully into the denser parts. If you find an active nest, leave that part of the hedge alone until the young birds have fledged and the nest is no longer in use. If in doubt, wait.
Save big height reductions for outside the nesting season
If a hedge has got too tall or too wide and needs a proper reduction rather than a trim, that is a job best done outside the nesting season, from early autumn through to late winter. There is far less chance of disturbing nesting birds, and many deciduous hedges cope well with harder cutting while they are dormant. Bear in mind the point above about conifers, which won't recover from being cut back into brown wood.
For a really overgrown hedge, it can help to spread the work over two seasons, for example taking the height down one year and the sides the next, so the hedge recovers more evenly.
When a neighbour's hedge is the problem
Sometimes the issue is not your own hedge but a neighbour's. Part 8 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 gives local councils powers to deal with complaints about high hedges, generally evergreen or semi-evergreen hedges over two metres tall that are affecting your reasonable enjoyment of your home or garden.
Councils usually expect you to have tried to sort things out with your neighbour first, and there is normally a fee to make a formal complaint. We can't give legal advice, but your local council's website will explain its own high hedges complaints process and is the best place to start.
Need a hand with your hedges?
South East Green Care is based in Belvedere and cuts hedges across Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Dartford, Sidcup, Orpington and Chislehurst. We are RHS-trained and NPTC chainsaw-trained, fully insured, and we take all green waste away and recycle it.
For a free quote, usually the same day, get in touch and send us a photo of your hedge along with your postcode. You can also read more about our hedge cutting service.
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