Emergency - stop neighbour’s trees being cut down

[woodpigeons]

I live in an area with a lot of mature, very big trees.
Our next door neighbour recently died. The house is for sale and I have just heard that the people who inherited it plan to have several mature trees, where birds nest every year, cut down.
The trees are not causing any problems at all. We are the only neighbours who would be affected and we love them, they are beautiful, and love seeing the birds come back every year to build their nests.
They already sent some sort of cowboy gardener to cut back the dividing front hedge where birds are nesting. DH noticed when they’d almost finished and when he spoke to the ‘gardener’ about it he laughed and said he was always finding eggs but never enough to make an omelette.
I know about applying to the council for a tree preservation order if there isn’t one already. Also about the Countryside act and will contact them on Monday.
However these people who have inherited the house are not reasonable. They are most likely to send unqualified people to cut down the trees, even this weekend.
If that happens can anyone tell me if there is anything I can do please?

Loads of nests are still in use ! Most species have second, or even third broods, so blackbirds, robins, woodpigeons etc will be on their second nests around now.
Cutting trees in nesting season is illegal unless the tree is causing an immediate risk. Ditto hedges.
As pps have said, get on this asap with the relevant authorities. They will be able to fell the trees in the Autumn though, unless TPOs are in place by then.

If you do manage to get a TPO I assume you will need to inform neighbours as they might have checked already so won’t check again

Trees don't just get TPOs put on them because someone likes them, the need to be deemed of particular public amenity by the council.

It is currently bit nesting season. Can’t cut trees down until 1 Sept without an ecologist confirming an absence of nests.
Many trees with a diameter over 1m have a TPO by default.

Unfortunately, once cut down, you cannot easilly replace a mature tree.

Well nesting season is over on the south coast, they've all flown a few weeks ago. Maybe it's longer up north?

How can you be sure that the trees "are not causing any problems at all"? Obviously they're not causing problems for you, but how do they affect the owners' house and garden in terms of light, adjacent walls, etc?

The house we bought had about seven enormous mature trees in the garden. The biggest ones crowded out the smaller ones, so several of them only had growth on one side; they blocked all sunlight to 2/3 of the garden, and no grass could grow in the rear half. Several of them were too near to boundary walls and risked making them unstable. We ended up having three cut down, which has allowed the remaining ones to flourish and has made our garden usable again.

There can be good reasons to cut down trees, they're unlikely to be doing it for no reason at all. But obviously they shouldn't disturb nests.

I have known a few people whose trees have had TPO... 'whoops' trees got cut down 'by mistake'. Yes, they have to pay a fine, but the trees are gone...

If people are going to cut down trees, they will just cut them down regardless. Not much you can do, except maybe point out something useful about the trees (do they help with privacy? Provide shade?)

We're currently looking at houses to buy and always plan to cut down the massive trees in the gardens. Dp works in that area so knows all about it. They make gardens feel claustrophobic and block out sun. I wouldn't want to sit in the shade all day in my garden. They also block out light for the grass and other plants. If there's no TPO on them then your neighbour can do as they wish.

We're way out of spring. I doubt there's still nests in use.

And you are basing this prime observation on exactly what ornothological expertise, @Ballymotedun?

Several bird species have mroe than one brood over a summer, & some can still be nesting toward the end of August.

So here's a thought - why not keep your ignorant & charmless observations to yourself?

Actually, official bird nesting season defined by the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) runs to 31 July. My mistake. We add a month up north, in my organisation (Environment Agency) as a buffer.

info here

I presume these trees do affect the garden or the new neighbours wouldn’t be cutting them down? Tree surgery is quite expensive.

So because of the “wonkey” tree you now hate all trees and everything that lives in them?

We need mature trees for clean air, to help drop the outside temperature and for the wildlife they support.

We have to stop taking them for granted, treating them as a nuisance and delight in cutting them down.

Deforestation is one of the biggest causes of climate change.

We have to support initiatives like the Great Green Wall and we have start looking after our trees.

The council should inform them that a TPO has been made, though I don't think they have to tell them they are considering it. The TPO on our copper beech (which we had no intention of removing) was an emergency order, I think because the next door neighbour had just cut down two mature trees to make way for redeveloping his house into flats (the subsequent planning application stated that 'no mature trees would be removed' - because he'd already removed them!)
Though it's obvious that the right hand of our council doesn't know what the left hand is doing, because three weeks after the TPO was imposed, we had a letter from the Highways department telling us to prune the tree because it was blocking the street light...

I watch with interest as we are in a similar boat but I have a feeling as we are not in a conservation area we will be out of luck.

Do you have trees in your own garden?

In a conservation area all trees with a trunk of more than 7.5cm in diameter, measured 1.5 metres, are automatically proceed by tree preservation legislation. In other words they have a de facto TPO. This is from memory and only helps if you are in a conservation area, but worth looking into if it applies.

Your neighbours are ignorant idiots and I hope they get scorched in their treeless "garden". I am planting 5 more trees in my garden in the autumn so there are some of us who are trying to counteract the nob heads.

Definitely blackbirds still nesting in the trees in our garden.

Good luck OP, I hope you find a way to stop them. I am fed up of people destroying nature, don't get me started on AstroTurf!

I think there may also be legislation protecting the habitats of nesting birds. Cutting trees down at this time of year, when birds may be nesting in them, is certainly discouraged by most councils because the birds may be protected and it is safe to cut down trees in the winter so that chicks are safe from harm.

We have to stop taking them for granted and treating them as nuisances

Thank you Chardonnay"s A bit of sense at last. People are soooo arrogant about the natural world it makes me despair for our grandchildren.

We NEED trees .

Issues about current nesting birds aside, YABU. Your neighbors should never be allowed to cut down their trees in their yard because YOU like them? You should have bought the house then.

Not ALL trees need to be protected FGS. That is ridiculous. And people do have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of their property - which includes letting light onto the garden.

It is bad that this is happening during nesting season. They might be thinking (correctly) that they need to get it done right away or someone would try to slap TPOs on.

Who suggested calling the police? Please don’t do that.

you are not being unfair

Actually, official bird nesting season defined by the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) runs to 31 July. My mistake. We add a month up north, in my organisation (Environment Agency) as a buffer.

I knew I was right! Where's all the apoolgys for me???

I knew I was right! Where's all the apoolgys for me???

You do realise it's only the start of July