To have spent most of the day in tears over trees

That is absolute vandalism OP, I cannot see any reason why the developers needed to cut down those trees, it's not like they are blocking access to the site. It might be worth contacting your local councillor to check that they did have permission to remove them. If not they could be made to make amends.

I always give a hollow laugh when people complain that environmental rules are holding up new building. Developers are perfectly happy to steamroller any nature habitats when it suits them.

Now is a good time to plant hedging, so get yourself over to the Gardening forum on here for some advice. There is lots of good stuff YouTube too, and gardening and being outside is very good for your mental health too. There is a guy on YouTube who started with a garden like yours and bought a cheap rose at the supermarket, he now has a beautiful zen paradise which he has built up over time.

I spend my summer going around the green spaces our grotty neighbourhood strategically throwing cherry seeds, apple seeds and other seed pods from the trees that grow well hoping that some might germinate. I do now have a beautiful wild Cherry just beyond our fence line growing out of an overgrown bramble area so I think it works!

I can sympathise - my neighbours tree came down as it was far too large. They did come round to apologise to me though, as they knew I loved it!
It's ok now. I have a better view and we planted a new tree in our garden to compensate.
Change happens, we can't help it.
I really think we should not cut down trees though - the older they are, they are better at producing oxygen.

So sorry. I hate to see trees being removed. Can you plant some native trees your side instead (Rowans are small, or silver birch if you have space), or a good thick beech hedge which birds will love? Things grow surprisingly quickly.

Same. This has really upset me!

Hawthorn is nice- it’s traditionally hedging but if you leave it to grow it gets quite tall.

By the way I know how much work this entails, I bought a house where the back and front garden were concrete jungles. I lifted them myself and filled two skips. I then put 3 tonnes of topsoil down and turfed the back. It was back breaking working but I found frogs and newt in my garden this year it was thrilling and my children were so excited.

Ha - I walked away half way through typing that, and I see now everyone else has said the same! Good luck OP, it's horrible but I hope you feel better soon.

Of course YANBU - that's devastating. It's made a real difference to your back garden, not in a good way.
Like you, I love nature and the birds singing etc really lifts my mood. I hate to see trees cut down.
I would, as a long term plan, save up and plant some saplings along your back fence. Maybe even move the sheds. There are so many lovely fruit trees you can get - great for nature. Lime trees smell divine and are bee-magnets. Plant some flowerbeds too - get some wildlife friendly shrubs/flowers. Make your garden a nature haven. I love gardening - it really lifts my mood as well.

I’d go even further and create a small wild flower meadow and a pond. Get your teeth into trying to create a beautiful, healthy ecosystem of your own.

To OP and all the posters on this thread. You've made my heart sing that you all care so much. Often I think I'm the only one but this thread is a joy. Thank you.

It's going to be 0 degrees tonight and they've just destroyed all the birds homes. I'm so sorry OP, I'd be absolutely gutted too if I was you - and I don't even like conifers much.

Can you afford to change up your garden? There are a lot of trees that don't grow too crazy big, or dwarf versions of huge ones that are suitable for a garden. A beech hedge along the back on your side perhaps (so many birds live in ours). You could have a wild flower patch in your lawn, a log pile. You could grow some raspberries and some strawberries for you to eat as well.

Maybe you were meant to be here OP, and this was meant to happen - and you can help your MH and the wildlife by getting into garden and making your garden a wonderful place for wildlife.

Turn this pile of shit into something positive OP, even if it takes some time by doing it one step at a time.

OH OP. That's bloody dreadful for you and for nature. I would have been in tears too. People are bastards aren't they.

Please, please, please do not lose hope. Nature really needs people like you who care so much.

Nature can heal and it heals us too. I really urge you to make your garden a haven for wildlife. It's such a lovely big garden you could make it a paradise for your family and for nature. Plant trees, plant shrubs, feed the birds.

If you put up a post here on the Gardening board, you will be deluged with help and advice from people in the know. Take a photo to your local garden centre and show them the destruction - garden centre people are often lovely, they might be generous with plants and discounts.

Talk to your neighbours. Can you club together or all agree to plant a tree? Contact your local wildlife charities - they will help too.

There's a thing called Hedgehog Street where neighbours create habitat and little holes in fences so hedgehogs can move in, thrive and start families.www.hedgehogstreet.org/

Honestly, there's so much promise. Please don't lose hope. YOU can make this better. I wish I lived near you, I would come and help.

PS the woodland trust sells trees at quite reasonable prices.
https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees?_gl=11728kl5_gaODI5ODc4Nzc4LjE3Njc5ODE0OTE._ga_YYKVQEPV0XczE3Njc5ODE0OTAkbzEkZzAkdDE3Njc5ODE0OTgkajU1JGwwJGgxODg3NzM1ODYx_gcl_awR0NMLjE3Njc5ODE0OTEuQ2p3S0NBaUE2NExMQmhCaEVpd0EtUHhndXdlTG41c0ZCYXlDN01yOENhUEZ0ekZOWjV1dTZ5S2dVclY4ZmJTWF82UHhwYUU1bEFCNHZob0NwRElRQXZEX0J3RQ.._gcl_au*MTU5MjUxMjcyOS4xNzY3OTgxNDkz

I’m so sorry. It hurts my heart to see nature destroyed in this way. There is a patch of woodland near us. It came up for sale not long ago and we half joked with some friends about clubbing together to buy it for dog walking, etc. someone else bought it, parcelled it up into house sized chunks and sold those off. It is green belt land so there should be no chance of planning permission but chancers do this looking for inexperienced buyers. Last summer we were away for the weekend and came back to find two of the plots had been fenced off and flattened. Literally every living thing removed from them, including rare trees. Local councillors were apparently trying to stop the diggers, to no avail. The sites have now been slapped with some planning restriction that is supposed to mean nothing can be built there and no further trees can be removed but it is shutting the door after the horse has bolted. What was beautiful woodland is now ugly fenced off scrubby land. I get upset every time I pass it.

If planning permission was sought you would have been notified and be able to comment, and normally, unless the water company own the site, they would have nothing to do with it

as to the trees, I agree it’s not nice, however looking at those conifers I am not sure they are native to the UK, appear to have been deliberately planted, and may well need work. Trees are living things that do occasionally need work doing on them

Personally I hate conifers with a vengeance they make gardens dark, dry up the earth and are just horrible, however that’s my opinion and I understand why you maybe upset when they have been at the end of the garden and provided such joy to you

can you plant some trees in your garden? May take a while to grow but they will be yours.

Go to a proper garden centre yourself, explain the situation. Show them ur photos and speak to them they will have loads of advice for u, get u out the house, give u a project to think about and will be something to put back to nature and the birds eventually and none can touch them. They will proper love u for it x

With the way that houses are now crammed in, I suspect it's because the trees would be too close to the houses and would cause loss of light. They'd also be a liability if they fell onto a house?
Modern housing developments always look pretty grim, to me. Too many houses crammed together, roads not wide enough for two cars, inadequate parking spaces etc. I think it would actually be better to build apartments with a large communal garden, rather than loads of houses all overlooking each other, with tiny gardens. With a large communal garden, people might not feel so hemmed in - and those trees could have been retained as part of the garden.

You can often get free saplings from the Woodland Trust, or even your local council - ours gave away fruit trees last year. Hunt about and create your own orchard.

I am so sorry. That would really upset me too. Can you plant a few things at the end of your garden and hang some feeders. Maybe make a small pond. This will attract wildlife though a noisy building sit may hinder it for a while.

I am so sorry, OP. Your pain is entirely understandable. It's such a shame you have lost your lovely view of trees.

Are you looking for suggestions for ways to make your garden wildlife friendly, to encourage back the birds, or are you wanting only sympathy and support for your very valid feelings? Either seems perfectly reasonable.

I’m so sorry. We have a row of shared trees between us and the house behind us - we own half and they own half. I will never forget the day I opened the bedroom blind and saw they had topped theirs and cut every branch off leaving bare trunks. I sobbed. The trees were there before the houses and also protected.

The council did nothing.

Over time our trees filled the gaps, and theirs looked like toilet brushes.

They attempted to do it again a couple of years back and the council guy came straight out and stopped them mid-works. I had film footage and they were heavily fined. Twats.

God, that’s awful. For your view and privacy plus all the nature that was living there. How bloody depressing. All I can suggest is planting your own quick-growing trees at the end of your garden. YANBU at all.

I feel so sad for u. Same happened to me in a house I lived in, a huge tree was only thing blocking my disgusting outlook into the worst neighbours in the world. Absolute pit of a house. Once day same happened. Tree was down in an hour. I was absolutely shattered. It was the only good thing looking out my window. Kept my bedroom blinds shut till I moved. i felt so sad for months over the tree being killed, not just the view it was saving me from. Was the only place small birds went to. So bloody awful.
please move house if u can. Even someplace smaller is worth not having the depression and despair. U won’t bond with this house ever. Just start to make plans.

Those trees were extremely tall and likely shading the garden? I’ll bet they put off a lot of potential buyers tbh. Plant your own - something over than conifers.