Grumpy Old Birder
Bird Watching|January 2018

Local authority attitudes towards trees in our towns and cities need to change, says Bo Beolens

Bo Beolens
Grumpy Old Birder

Who could resist running one’s hand along the skin-smooth bark of a Beech tree or hugging a Hornbeam? Can anyone doubt the primal pleasure of hearing the wind ruffling the leaves of a poplar or knowing of the reassuring longevity of a craggy old oak?

Well, the answer turns out to be the municipal muggers who are more concerned by possible litigation than certain deforestation. In a week where I received an invitation from the London Borough of Waltham Forest to the opening of their new nature reserve, I also read about the utter foolishness of another London borough.

It seems Wandsworth council have plans to remove an avenue of 150-year-old chestnut trees on Tooting Common. Is the heartwood rotten or have our increasingly frequent storms damaged them? The answer is a resounding no!

So, why are 51 magnificently mature trees being replaced by 64 saplings? It’s not that they are dangerous, but that they might become so.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2018-Ausgabe von Bird Watching.

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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 2018-Ausgabe von Bird Watching.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

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