I woke up this morning to devastation! There is a development being built behind the apartment block where I live…No problems except there is a thick line of trees just outside our property line (within the development), which we were told originally would not be cut and later that a few trees would be trimmed.
This is a habitat that is full of birds of different species as well as squirrels and hedgehogs…they are by no means dead trees.
I went down and filmed the destruction and emailed a few conservation groups as well as all of our local Councillors and the three who represent this area in the Dáil.
One of the workers did tell me that the trees were dead inside and had to be cut down, total baloney! Another point to add, the trees are no where near where the new development is actually being built…
The only authority to reply was Bird Watch Ireland, who informed me that this was illegal…
Under the Wildlife Acts, it is against the law to cut, burn or otherwise destroy vegetation including hedges between 1st March and 31st August but there are exemptions which allow hedge-cutting during the closed period in case of road safety concerns. The ban on hedge-cutting applies to private gardens as much as it does to farms and the wider countryside.
If you witness hedge-cutting between these dates, please report it to the local Gardai and the National Parks and Wildlife Services.
I did call the gardai, but by then it was too late to do much good…I will be going down there early in the morning to speak to the Site manager, as I would like to know who signed off on this.
Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions? Even if it is too late to save the rest of this habitat, it is half gone now, this should not be allowed in the future!