Poisoned oaks, slain sycamores: who’s behind Britain’s tree murders? – In affluent areas across the UK, unknown assassins are striking. Their weapons? Herbicides and hatchets. Their victims? Once mighty trees. We join the plant detectives on their trail
18 comments
> I wonder if he knows what they’ve done in a couple of places in Australia in an effort to curb the same problem? When 200 new street trees were removed or damaged in the Perth suburb of Stirling, the local authority started to put up signs in front of houses saying that a tree had been vandalised outside this property: publicly branding the culprits. “If someone has lopped a tree purely and simply to get a view of the city it is quite obvious it’s the owner of the property,” Stirling’s mayor Giovanni Italiano told a local radio station. “If we can’t prove who it was, the sign will go up and stay there for 12 months.”
> On the other side of the country, at Blacks Beach in Queensland, when 40 trees were illegally axed in order to open up a view to the ocean, Mackay regional council erected huge billboards in their place. You take away the trees to get a better view, we take away that view. There’s something delightfully direct about both approaches – shame ’em and block ’em. Maros, who hadn’t heard about it, seems to approve of the Aussie tactics.
>but that the falling seeds were a nuisance
Indeed, what is to me is a beautiful beech tree in my garden is an annual source of aggravation to my neighbour as the autumn leaves land on his decking, but we are all so invested in our little patch of the world.
I’m not going to cut the tree down and he is not going to stop moaning, ‘lump it’ doesn’t seem much of a solution or even that fair from his perspective.
Another bunch of people who will be up against the wall come my revolution. The human race really do not deserve this beautiful planet
> She says she knows nothing about the demise of the sycamores, but that the falling seeds were a nuisance, and had cut her daughter’s face.
That sounds like bullshit to me. Has anyone in the history of time ever had a meaningful injury from a sycamore seed?
To hold a grudge against a tree for a falling seed lightly grazing someone’s face is completely mental. Some people are so disassociated from the natural world, and I guess that’s what the root cause of this disgusting behaviour is.
> She says she knows nothing about the demise of the sycamores, but that the falling seeds were a nuisance, and had cut her daughter’s face
What? What’s her daughters face made of, fucking tissue paper?
I work in public Arboriculture now and the entitlement of some people is breathtaking.
That said sometimes a tree has to come down – one of the best ones this year was a little tree that had full-on ‘banana’d’ in two following Eunice.
If the people live in affluent areas, you’d think they’d have the money and brain power to just buy a house that doesn’t have massive trees outside of it?
Of cause the trees drop seeds and leaves, it’s a damn tree and it’s probably been there longer then the house you decided to move into! I’d have more sympathy if it wasn’t mostly happening in posh places, but even if you had no other choice but to live where you do you can’t just kill the trees that slightly annoy you.
At first I thought this would be an issue with tree roots ripping up drives and walls, but it’s just about blocked veiws and having to sweep your drive sometimes! The tree in nextdoors back garden drops so many leaves on to mine, but I just collect them and deal with it like a normal person.
When I read about things like this I really wish we still had public floggings. Oh well. I hope a tree falls on them.
I am very sad at this behaviour.
Every single tree in my mum’s road were either poisoned or magically got sick despite being mature.
Pretty much all her neighbours have cut every single tree down and paved every front garden.
One neighbour even said her hedge was hiding robbers.
*She lives in Hounslow where people dgaf about nature.
Sycamores are a pain in the arse and are little more than a weed. I’d gladly eradicate every one of them.
I’m pretty sure I remember my mum saying the development next to her cut down some trees they were forbidden from touching in their planning permission. She absolutely hates them (for a mix of valid and non valid reasons) so sending her the section of this article with the massive fine in it to prompt her to action.
If I had to put money on it I’d say it’s allergy sufferers of specific trees.
Just mount some wildlife cameras on them to catch people in the act. The people dong this will be very local and will not bother trying to hie their actions all that well, so you would instantly be able to identify them from the footage.
doesn’t surprise me, my neighbour hates his garden and uses roundup on everything living, its just dead and dried up now
Welcome to the world of plastic grass and bring the indoors outdoors, where everything must be sanitised and controlled. If it can’t be sanitised and controlled then it’s a threat that has to be eliminated.
Some fucking cunt burned down my favourite tree in my local park. Why? I’ve no idea. Started a fire with petrol and tyres and burned it for no apparent reason at all. I hope he dies painfully and slowly.
I literally saw a BBC programme about buying houses (black guy with a minor speech impediment) encouraging people to cut down some random tree because “roots could effect the foundation”. Like, such a unfounded thing to tell people to just cut down trees in case they effect the foundation of a house you’re buying to flip in 6 months time? I made a complaint but doubt they cared.
Another thing, there was a guy who’s moved into my mums road who cut down the only tree in the street immediately for no apparent reason. There are 5 trees along the side of his house (but in neighbours gardens) and he’s obviously hassling the neighbours because two of the 5 have been massively trimmed back. He’s a frikin council tenant is what pisses me off the most. Instead of looking down the road and seeing tree’s you see just a manky overgrown hedge in his garden?
I really think it’s time we protect trees because people are too selfish, they’ll destroy something that’s been growing peacefully longer than they and maybe even their parents have been alive. It’s criminal!
This new season of Sherlock is really clutching at straws isn’t it