I know it's 'only a tree'...

Well done, Anya.

I plant saplings in pots, grow them to a certain height then shape them so that I have the tree in miniture. Rather like a large Bonsi. I have several. One of my Oaks is now about 4ft high and growing really well. I love them.

I saved a little wood once. The landowner had planned to cut it down to extend his field. He had already drained a pond where ducks used to nest and killed all the bullrushes and other pond flora and fauna.

I was Parish Clerk and Parish Tree Warden at the time and someone got word to me of his intent.

I rushed through a Tree Preservation Order that covered the whole wood plus an adjoining ancient hedgerow that he was also going to grub up.

He was hoping mad when he found out.

"Trees" (1913) Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

It's lovely to find so many people on here love trees. I was beginning to feel that me and DH were odd, tree hugging weirdos.....we've been called it

It is very satisfying isn't it to visit somewhere where tree lined streets remain. So many have now been taken down for parking etc.

Yay!! That's fantastic. Why don't some people appreciate trees? They're amazing plants and habitats.

I saved a tree once. The developers had started hacking away at it because it was on the fence line. I rang the council and they sent someone out, while I kept the bloke with the saw busy by haranguing him. Turned out the tree was protected, and it's still there now. They built the fence round it. It's definitely my tree now.

I'm glad it helped.

Someone else called it a wasteland today. I corrected her and told her it was a nature reserve.

Thank you vq.
Your post prompted me to do something I should have done earlier.
A couple of months ago I had a letter from the council saying they planned to carry out maintenance on trees in our avenue. When I returned home to find 2 trees felled I 'approached' the workmen who told me that the elderly sycamores were diseased and couldn't be saved.
Your comments about conservation areas encouraged me to follow this up although I couldn't find anything onsite specifically about trees in conservation areas.
Today I've had an email assuring me that, at the appropriate planting time, the trees will be replaced!
I'm now just a bit concerned that they're suggesting elms or limes so will look into it and perhaps discuss it further with them (would prefer a native species like rowan).

Although I wouldn't like to see what the magpies do to the ewes.

I'm a townie so any wild space and it's animals is heaven to me.

Yes, to a degree. I have very little time for magpies, the horrid noise they make during the season is just an irritant.

However what they would do to those of my unfortunate ewes who would get "cast" i.e. stuck on their backs I will not distress you with, (no doubt some may already know) Yes, it could be argued that it is a farmers responsibility to make sure their sheep stay at the "right" weight, too fat, they are more prone to getting cast, too thin, both they and their unborn lambs don't do well, but short of measuring their back width in relation to their weight on a regular basis (whch would mean even more handling, bringing them in & puting them through the weighing crush etc) you just have to do it by eye.

I'm with you vamp

I was upset about your trees too Phoenix. What a nightmare.

Sadly, Nandalot, one person's natural wonder is another person's scruffy overgrown wasteland. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I love the way the land has changed in the 8 years I've lived here from scrub and brambles to an amazing mixture of plants, bushes and trees with all the wildlife that comes with such a natural resource. Others see an eyesore and see the wildlife as either unimportant or, worse still, vermin.

I'm one of those fortunate/odd people who can wax lyrical about the colours, shape and form of a bug or spider. I love the little mice that live in the garden wall (although I have threatened them with death if they think they can become house mice lol), the sparrows that bicker over bird seed, the possessive female blackbird who refuses to share with her siblings. I even love the posing pigeons with their incandescent throat feathers.

I had two big holly trees felled in my garden recently. I hate to see mature trees felled or, what's worse, mutilated and I thought long and hard before going ahead. They shaded half the garden and half the house and nothing much would grow beneath them and all summer they shed spiky dead leaves all over the garden.
I felt bad about it and will miss the berries at Christmas but it's opened up a big area which I've grassed and I and the grandchildren can walk barefoot outside so I don't regret doing it. A garden has to be managed or it would just be a jungle.

I posted at the weekend about the chainsaw event here when we went out on Saturday

Turkey oak "The species' range extended to northern Europe and the British Isles before the previous ice age, about 120,000 years ago. Reintroduced in the United Kingdom and in Ireland in the eighteenth century, "

Well done for your research, Vampire Queen. If the trees are protected that will settle your neighbour's hash..just had a thought , ...but not your ash. Sorry about that couldn't resist.

Your green area sounds wonderful. What an amenity. Your neighbour must be a very miserable soul not to be able to appreciate it.

That's the word, Bellanonna.
Turkey oaks, eh? Couldn't be happy with the English oak, had to import one.

Pedunculate ? The other one is sessile. Also holm, looks like holly imo. In our nearby neighbouring road we have turkey oaks. An American import I believe. Very large leaves.

You are allowed to pull out seedlings, thatbags. I get quite a few sycamore in my garden, which I do not want.
Hopefully you will never get Chalara in your ash trees. If you did you would be grateful for the seedlings that Woodland Trust and others now grow, rather than import.

Peduncular?

I totally agree. You'd think an aboreologist would know his trees.

You have reminded me of one day when I was at work and DS called me to say there was a man at the door had come to cut down the enormous and beautiful tree just outside our house. I told him to stop him and if necessary tie himself to the tree. Apparently he had also gone to our neighbour and we both thought the other was responsible. It transpired that he was the local council's aboreologist who had been sent to check on the oak tree on the north side of the lane not the very different species (I've lost the right word for the species) on the south side. Very worrying!