The municipality of Nuenen is a green municipality. We consider it important to maintain the greenery in our municipality well. Biodiversity is central to this.

Mowing roadsides and waterways

In the municipality of Nuenen, we mow the roadsides and waterways once or twice a year. Usually we start in mid-June. The first mowing takes place between June 1 and July 15 and the second mowing between September 1 and October 15. We do not mow during the winter months.

We don't mow everything. We leave an average of 20% per mowing, which is good for biodiversity. We mow according to color: a hallmark of the Butterfly Foundation to improve biodiversity. Bees, butterflies and other insects are indispensable for nature and biodiversity. Insects such as ichneumon wasps, for example, are the natural enemies of the oak processionary caterpillar. So good habitat and biodiversity helps reduce nuisance from the oak processionary caterpillar. Less mowing also creates more variety in flora and fauna.

Roadsides belong to the road and thus have primarily a traffic function. They are places of egress in case of emergency. And it is important for safety that you can see over them. That's why we always mow the first meter strip and sight corners twice a year.

We also take into account "shedding," which means that small branches can grow into trees. Mowing can prevent shedding, which is why another section is skipped each time, so the 20% left over varies in different locations each time.

Trimming hedges

Every year we trim the hedges in our community. We start doing this when the hedges have had their growth spurt, usually around June 21. We often start in the center of Nuenen and work outward from there.

Cutting is done mechanically with a tractor with a hedge trimmer. Where the machine cannot reach, we trim manually (electrically). We leave the cutting waste in the hedge as much as possible, because it serves as nutrition for the hedge. If this is not possible, the trimmings are removed. If necessary, the hedges are trimmed again in the fall; this is always done manually.