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Why are nets appearing over trees and hedges? (1 Viewer)

There are a huge amount of people worried about mankind's desecration of the countryside, nature and the planet. Some write on forums, sign petitions, go on marches, report and present articles on the race to extinction of our planet. End of the day, it is the action of human beings, acting singly, working for or leading corporate interests.
We do care, and need the help of our children to change things whilst we have time.
 
Reading the various articles, I can't quite get a sense of the extent of this. If it was just a few trees and hedges, especially if it is trees planted by the local authorities themselves, then I wouldn't get too exercised. If however there is an increasing practice of netting large numbers of established hedgerows, that would be a matter of concern.


I'm more worried about what happens to the discarded nets once removed. The same applies to those Christmas tree nets that are almost universal these days
 
Maybe it's a British thing, but I'm confused as a resident of the USA:

Why are people up-in-arms if the nets are for the sole purpose of keeping nesting birds out before a piece of shrubbery is about to be removed? Isn't that a good thing for the birds rather than the harm of possibly destroying nests in a tree or bush they are about to move or destroy?

Or are they upset about the removal of the tree/bush in and of itself, secondary to the nesting bird issue? Or maybe protesting the urban sprawl and/or overpopulation that led to the inevitable destruction of the tree/bush?

I didn't know these nets existed and I wish they had covered the old San Francisco Bay Bridge with them ahead of cormorant nesting season so they could have not wasted millions of dollars moving or waiting the birds out in order to demolish the bridge.

I mean it's sad to say we probably topple trees nests and all here; at least y'all have a law against that part.
 
Reading the various articles, I can't quite get a sense of the extent of this. If it was just a few trees and hedges, especially if it is trees planted by the local authorities themselves, then I wouldn't get too exercised. If however there is an increasing practice of netting large numbers of established hedgerows, that would be a matter of concern.


I'm more worried about what happens to the discarded nets once removed. The same applies to those Christmas tree nets that are almost universal these days

There's a map on Twitter that indicates about 70+ locations...
MJB
 
Maybe it's a British thing, but I'm confused as a resident of the USA: Why are people up-in-arms if the nets are for the sole purpose of keeping nesting birds out before a piece of shrubbery is about to be removed? Isn't that a good thing for the birds rather than the harm of possibly destroying nests in a tree or bush they are about to move or destroy?

I think that in many cases, the extent of the applied netting is much greater than needed, but also only in a few cases is the advice of ecologists to check the netting at least three times in daylight for trapped or tangled birds has been completely ignored or was not known to the netters...
MJB
 
I think that in many cases, the extent of the applied netting is much greater than needed, but also only in a few cases is the advice of ecologists to check the netting at least three times in daylight for trapped or tangled birds has been completely ignored or was not known to the netters...
MJB
That is a good and valid point; I did read that and had mentally wondered if anyone bothered with that part of the rules. Not too surprised that it would be a step often skipped.
 
I think that in many cases, the extent of the applied netting is much greater than needed, but also only in a few cases is the advice of ecologists to check the netting at least three times in daylight for trapped or tangled birds has been completely ignored or was not known to the netters...
MJB

Has this always been done or is it a relatively new thing? I see things about it on Twitter just about every day. Just wondering if we're suddenly aware of it or whether developers/landowners are all suddenly copying each other with this method of discouraging nesting birds.
 
Has this always been done or is it a relatively new thing? I see things about it on Twitter just about every day. Just wondering if we're suddenly aware of it or whether developers/landowners are all suddenly copying each other with this method of discouraging nesting birds.

Netting has been applied to buildings for decades to discourage feral pigeons from nesting, and later Herring Gulls, but the hedge netting seems opportunistically recent...

Perish the thought, but the netting placed on soft cliffs against Sand Martins suggests that the thinking was 'If we keep the birds away permanently, we won't have to worry about complying with or breaking conservation laws'...
MJB
 
They put netting on part the soft cliffs near me about 10 years ago when they were expanding the harbour. In that case it was perfectly sensible since the Sand Martins' nests would have been at risk had they nested during the building work. The nets were removed when finished.
So I guess the question is: do they remove the nets in a timely fashion.
 
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