To have spent most of the day in tears over trees

I'm still in mourning for the huge pine tree my neighbor had removed a few years ago. It housed so much wildlife. I begged him to reconsider and he said it will give him more space for gardening. Tried telling him it wouldn't-the roots are deep and wide, can't get a spade in the soil, etc etc

Now several years later he says he wishes he hadn't taken it down.

If I saw a massive amount of trees come down I'd be very upset too. I'm sorry. You're not crazy to be sad about this 💗

I'd be in tears too, OP. Can you still take action to save the remaining trees? And see if the local council will back you in asking for some restitution from the developers, for the massive loss of amenity to you and your neighbours. I would definitely contact your local councillor to complain about this. You weren't consulted or even warned that this was going to happen.

I would then get advice on good fast-growing trees to plant at the end of your garden. Preferably not the dreaded leylandii, which grows unstoppably! But even that would be better than a view of the barren waste beyond your fence.

Best of luck xx

Sorry OP. We are very urban but had trees (mostly bushes really, but lovely and including small trees) outside our flat which were ripped down by a developer in the Spring, a couple of years ago. Nesting birds and everything, which I thought wasn't legal but no-one I tried to report it to cared (and the trees were gone in any case). I cried for a day as well.

I completely sympathize.

Opposite our row of houses (and very busy road) was a very small area of scrubland, maybe even smaller than what a local petrol station would be on, with about 6 large trees that they cleared last year to build a row of 4 tiny houses. I used to leave my bedroom window open at night to hear the owl that would sit in the trees and call out long after all the traffic had died down.
And a few years back a neighbouring house had new owners who immediately cut down their one evergreen tree (I think it blocked the afternoon sunlight) and I actually secretly cried because for 4 years a blackbird had perched in it and sung his heart out each early evening… The new neighbour next to them removed a cherry tree that was clouds of pink each year, and installed about 5 different artificial garden features (none in the same style/theme) instead, and I want it to be known: yes, I am judging that particular decision very hard.

Sorry to hear about the trees. However, nothing can be done now, except for you to plant preached trees that are a few years old. on your side of the fence as soon as possible. Good luck.

You can complain to the council. It seems to be common practice to clear the land before planning is granted so developers can ignore the biodiversity rules - where I am developments are supposed to have a net gain to biodiversity so they just chop the trees down before submitting planning :/ Buu you have a record of what was there, so may be worth raising, you never know they may have to replace them. They may have left the others because of nesting birds, apparently with climate change birds are nesting for more of the year now so it's getting harder to do work on trees. If there are nesting birds you can make them stop work. But definitely raise it and check they have done things properly and it's not, see what you can do. If any of them have tree protection orders they would be in a lot of trouble.. you can possibly apply for TPO for the remaining trees...

The spotlight should not be shining on your property. Let them know that it is unacceptable. No one has the right to shine a light directly on your house or garden.

Do you have any neighbours with nice gardens? If you are not confident then as well as the garden centre maybe talk to them about what grows well and they might help you plant.

Get dimensions for the plot and which way it faces. Some plants prefer acid/not but I don’t know about trees. I soil test kit might be useful if not for trees then other plants you might grow. The garden centre should help you pick one suitable.

Yep, humans are shit.
There is a garden behind me it is really overgrown with trees and I dread the day it gets cleaned up, I love listening to the birds.
Can you sell the property or rent it out and move on to improve your life. 💐

I absolutely empathise with this. Our neighbour chopped down a large tree last year and I cried about it for days. There was always bird in it, blue tits, long tailed tits, wrens, robins, so many others. I used to sit and just listen to their songs for ages. Then one day the chainsaw came out and it was gone. It took MONTHS for the birds to return and they only returned because we have a large tree in our garden. We're always getting comments from the neighbours about the leaves it drops. It's an oak. They can jog on though. I'd rather lose a limb than chop a perfectly healthy tree down. SO many people don't get it though, and "they're just trees, there's plenty of them" is too common a retort.
I'm so sorry for the loss that this has brought not only you, but the natural world x

This is good advice. Plant your own oasis.

This is so upsetting.

I've not read the full thread, but all new developments have to provide biodiversity net gain, I.e. make it better than before the development.

So you might find that they will be planting replacement (and more) trees. Can you look up the planning application and the landscaping plan for it?

It fills me with fury.... why?, just why?

We had similar in our village when a row of bungalows was built along the lane. Instead of the developers making a gap in the wonderful ancient hedge for access, I went to work one morning, came back in the evening and the whole hedge had been ripped out all along the lane. This was a hedge that had developed iver hundreds of years and was home to wildlife. Now there are modern bungalows open to the lane like Little America and the residents have no privacy. It was pointless destruction.

OP ... have you any idea why they did this? What advantage does it confer to the builders or to future purchasers?

There have been two new small developments since and we all campaigned to the planners that a condition should be placed on the permissions that the hedges should be retained with the smallest reasonable gap for access.

So if this was the icing on the cake, what else did you already hate being there for and why had it already ruined your life? None of those leylandi trees were native by the way. You can easily plant new fast growing trees at the end of your garden but please for the love of god, not more leylandi. They are an absolute scurge on the countryside.

OP, this is surprising as @AGlessandahalf says even conifers may have biodiversity value and new ones will have to be replaced, this wil be done through the planning process. Or they will have to pay ££ for offsite mitigation. For you, I would suggest that as right now is planting season (until end of march) that you purchase some birch tree whips they grow fast and will give you good screening are are UK native. Mix these with some other UK native small trees, maybe a hawthorn, Blackthorn, formblisom and berries (look at Barcham or Hillier's trees) , you will be surprised how quickly a small tree grows, add some privet for a bit of fast growing evergreen too. In a mix you will have a good screen in 3-5 and happier wildlife too. It's lovely that you care for nature, I do too, so hopefully the above will help you restore (in time) some good X I am sorry it's made you so sad (I understand!!) but you can help make it a little bit better x

That would really upset me as well OP. I'm sorry man.

For anyone who think trees are threatened by development
proposals, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, ask your local authority’s Tree Officer to assess them before this happens. People are unaware of this, but if trees are found to be of significant value (there are written criteria for this) they can be protected by a Tree Protection Order. In the situation you describe, this would have stopped the developers removing the trees (or if they had done so anyway, they would be fined significantly) The general public need to be made aware of this.
It can be pretty effective, I had a similar situation, asked for an assessment & got a TPO on a large beech tree, which limited what developers could do on the site. Spread the word, people.

I'm really sorry this has happened, I would also feel very upset over this. Could you plant some conifers / fast growing trees on your side of the fence?

YANBU

But I don’t quite understand why you moved somewhere you hate?

Oh OP, that's awful. I can so relate to hating where you live, and the one source of pleasure has been taken away from you because some nameless wankers decide to develop. 🤬

I'm so sorry OP. That would break my heart too. I love listening to the birds and the lovely Hooty bastards (ref to another thread!).

Honestly, I'm your position, if at all possible, I would plant my own trees at the end of the garden. It might have already been mentioned but https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/garden-trees do a lovely range, not too expensive.

Oh no :(

OP can you plant some? In your garden?

I would feel the same way, it’s heartbreaking. I’m sorry you’re so unhappy, like a PP said, could you get some trees to plant along the fence in your garden?

Agree with this