We bought our house in Autumn last year and it is our first time having a garden. Not in the UK to clarify from the start.
Soon we realized that two of the trees were falling down and organized to have them felled. Since they were on the boundary of each of our neighbors, the workmen needed to access to their gardens, so we let them know in advance.
When discussing this, the neighbour to the right asked us to remove another tree, a very tall Linden tree, as it drops leaves into his garden and the birds shit on his rasberries. We love this tree and it would also be very expensive to remove, so we said no.
In the meantime, I have gotten a bird feeder camera and love seeing the birds come every day.
Along side the fence separating our gardens, which is just a low slatted thing, we also have multiple rose bushes. They grow tall but fully within our garden. Yesterday I was at work and got a notification of a new bird on my feeder so opened the app to check it out. Only it wasn't a bird, it was the neighbour coming over the fence into my garden to trim the rose bush, casually throwing the stems over into his garden. I'm talking about several huge parts of the bush removed.
Today I saw him out in the garden, kindly asked him how his veggies were doing, and mentioned I saw him come into my garden yesterday and next time please ask. I did not mention the camera, but that i had seen it from the window. I am sure he was puzzled because he may have waited for me to leave and watch me walk down the street. The camera only shows my garden, not the neighbour's, but i don't want to alert him to its presence in case he comes in again.
He didn't apologize, and instead immediately switched the topic to ranting about our Linden tree and how he was going to sue us if a branch fell on his grandson's head and we need to remove it. I said I could pay someone to check the branches and trim it and he said no I want it gone. I said well i like the tree. "That doesn't interest me. What interests me is all the leaves i need to pick up from my garden." And I said "Well what interests me is when people trespass on my property so please dont come in my garden." He then demanded to speak to my dh, which really gets my back up because dh will not be making any decisions about the tree without my permission anyway, because im the one doing all the work in the garden.
We already removed two trees as soon as we moved in which the previous owners had clearly neglected, immediately rectifying a problem for all neighbours - but this tree is perfeclty healthy and attracting beautiful wildlife. We met the neighbour's son who actually owns the house nextdoor and exchanged numbers, so were thinking about contacting him as he might be a bit more reasonable.
I couldnt get rid of the tree now anyway, because it is against the law. But AIBU to want to keep my tree and for expecting at least an apology?