Bird nesting season and tree work: what’s allowed in Swansea and South Wales

Published 25 October 2026

There’s no law in Wales that says you can’t cut a tree or hedge between March and August. What the law protects is the birds: their nests while they’re being built or used, their eggs and, for some species, the birds themselves while they’re breeding. In practice that makes spring and summer the time when tree and hedge work needs the most care. This guide explains what applies in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire, and how our teams plan work around it.

What the law actually protects

In Wales, wild birds are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which handles wildlife licensing here, sums it up: all wild birds, their nests and eggs are protected. It’s an offence to intentionally:

• kill, injure or take any wild bird
• take, damage or destroy a nest while it’s in use or being built
• take or destroy an egg

So a garden hedge with a blackbird sitting on eggs can’t be trimmed through until the young have left. A hedge or tree with no active nests can be worked on, whatever the month.

Some birds get extra protection. Species listed on Schedule 1 of the Act, which include the barn owl, can’t be intentionally disturbed while they’re building a nest, or while they’re on or near a nest with eggs or young. That means even work near the nest, not just on it, can be an offence. The nests of golden eagles, white-tailed eagles and ospreys are protected all year round, though those aren’t likely in a Swansea garden.

What happens if the law is broken

Under section 21 of the Act, an offence can lead to up to six months in prison, a fine, or both. Where more than one bird, nest or egg is involved, each one counts as a separate offence for the fine, so clearing a hedge with several active nests is treated far more seriously than a single mistake.

When is nesting season?

The law doesn’t set dates. Birds are protected whenever they’re nesting. The dates you’ll see quoted are guidance:

• The RSPB calls March to September the main nesting season and recommends cutting hedges and trees only between 1 September and 28 February, checking for late or early nests at either end.
• Carmarthenshire County Council’s planning ecology advice puts the bird-breeding season at February or March to August or September, and asks for felling, pruning, trimming and hedge-laying to be done outside it.

As the RSPB points out, some birds start early and some breed late, so a quick check is worth doing at any time of year.

Farm hedges have fixed dates; garden hedges don’t

This is where Wales differs from England, and it’s easy to get wrong.

If you farm and claim support from the Welsh Government, the rules attached to the Sustainable Farming Scheme ban cutting or trimming hedges during the bird breeding and rearing season, 1 March to 31 August. That’s a scheme rule for farmland, not a general law for every hedge.

Separately, the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 still apply in Wales. They don’t set cutting dates. They stop countryside hedgerows being removed without first giving the council 42 days’ written notice. A hedgerow is covered if it grows on or next to farmland, common land, a local nature reserve or an SSSI, is at least 20 metres long (or meets another hedgerow at each end) and is 30 years old or more. Hedges within or forming the boundary of a house’s garden aren’t covered.

For most homeowners in Sketty, Morriston or Llanelli, that means: no fixed date ban on your garden hedge, but the nesting law still applies to every active nest in it. If you own a smallholding or land on Gower with field hedges, the hedgerow rules may apply too. Our guide to tree work on the Gower National Landscape covers that side of things.

Bats are a separate, year-round issue

Bats roost in trees as well as buildings, in woodpecker holes, cracks, loose bark and hollow limbs. Neath Port Talbot Council’s guidance explains that all UK bats are protected, and that it’s an offence to disturb roosting bats or to damage or destroy a roost, even when the bats aren’t in it at the time. A conviction can bring up to six months in prison and/or a fine.

Unlike nesting birds, there’s no “safe” season for a roost. Where work can’t avoid affecting bats, it needs a licence from NRW, usually with conditions such as providing new roost spaces. If an old tree has features bats could use, we look before we cut and stop if we find signs of them.

A protected tree still has to follow wildlife law

If your tree has a Tree Preservation Order or is in a conservation area, you’ll need the council’s consent or six weeks’ notice before most work (see our protected trees page). That consent is about the tree. It doesn’t permit you to disturb an active nest or a bat roost. Both sets of rules apply at once.

The same goes for felling more than a small amount of timber outside a garden. A felling licence from NRW doesn’t override wildlife law either. Our guide to felling licences in Wales has the details.

How to check for nests before any work

The RSPB’s advice is simple and works for gardens:

1. Watch for a few days. Birds flying back and forth to the same spot during the day, often with food, usually means a nest. Birds that only arrive at dusk are probably just roosting.
2. Look properly before cutting. Check through the hedge, tree or shrub, especially dense conifers, ivy-covered trunks and thick hedges.
3. Use hand tools near any doubt. They’re easier to stop than a powered trimmer.

If you find an active nest, leave that section until the young have fledged, and leave a decent buffer around it.

How our teams work in spring and summer

We still carry out tree work across Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire through spring and summer. Some jobs can’t wait, and plenty of trees and hedges have no nests in them. Before starting, our teams check the tree or hedge for active nests and signs of bats. If we find a nest, we work around it at a safe distance or come back once the young have gone. Where a job can wait, such as a big hedge reduction or a leylandii removal, we’ll often suggest booking it for autumn or winter.

The same goes for bigger tree jobs like crown reduction where the timing is flexible. If you’re planning work for next year, now is a good time to get a quote. Contact us and we’ll talk you through the timing.