When to cut a hedge in London (and when you legally can't)

The short version

• Trim privet, laurel and box in late May/June and again in late August/September.
• Reduce anything overgrown in late winter — February into early March — before it starts growing.
• Don’t do anything more than a light trim from March to July: birds are nesting, and disturbing an active nest is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Check first, always.

Why September is busy

It’s the second trim. The summer growth is on, the nesting season is over, and a cut now holds the shape through winter. If your hedge has gone fluffy since June, this is the fortnight to sort it. Most of our September round in Islington and Stoke Newington is exactly this.

By hedge type

Privet — the most common hedge in North London terraces. Forgiving. Two trims a year, hard reduction in late winter if it’s got away. Regrows from old wood.

Cherry laurel — big leaves, grows fast, looks awful if cut with a hedge trimmer because it shreds the leaves. We cut it with secateurs or loppers for a clean line where it shows. Reduces well.

Box — trim in June and again in late summer; box blight and box caterpillar are both around in London now, so we’ll tell you if we see either.

Yew — slow, and it will regrow from a hard cut, which is unusual for a conifer. One trim in late summer is usually enough.

Leylandii — the one people regret. It does not regrow from brown wood, so it can only ever be trimmed back to where there’s still green. If it’s already too tall, the honest options are a careful reduction to the last green growth, or replacement.

The nesting rule, in practice

From March to the end of July we assume every hedge has a nest in it until we’ve looked. Light trims are fine if the hedge is clear; anything heavier waits. If we find a nest mid-job we stop and come back once it’s fledged. It’s the law, and it’s also just decent.

If you’d rather we did it

WhatsApp a photo with something for scale — a bin, a door — and we’ll give you a price for a trim or a reduction the same day. Hedge trimming is from £80, cleared and taken away.