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?

I know quite a few tree surgeons and they couldn’t give two fucks about birds.

They frequently put the nests and baby birds through their chippers. Pigeons and magpies usually.

Sorry I got June and July confused. Still if someone can find an active birds nest in my garden on the south coast I'll eat my hunters

If you inform the tree department at the council, they can have an emergency TPO order put on the trees.

It's happened a couple of times down our road...

I have some blackbirds.

Had to chase off a fucking cat from the nest yesterday.

We stayed at a holiday cottage in the Bordeaux region. The owner didn't like trees (the wasps apparently) and and had had removed them all from his garden It was unbearably hot in and outside .

As it's so hot at the moment it makes people appreciate the shade and oxygenated air they give.

Good luck to you if the new neighbours find out that you’ve had a TPO put on a tree they were planning on cutting just because you love mature trees 😀 How many trees have you got in your garden OP?

Many birds are on their second batch of eggs now, we still have nests with young being fed in them in our hedge - we can hear them calling for food.

The gardener is no gardener. Otherwise he'd know he shoudn't be disturbing nestingduring nesting season. I'd just call the cops on them. They'll have a countryside officer who knows those bits of the law backwards who'll have a word or two about it with them.

Yes, two separate issues. Disturbing nesting birds = criminal offence. Did you get the cowboy gardener's name, company name, van reg?

Trees, up to the owners, unless there's a TPO. Trees are great, in the right place, that doesn't mean they have to be allowed to grow, or get huge, everywhere. It might be quite reasonable for the house owners to remove trees to reduce shading in their garden. Why don't you plant some extra saplings in yours?

You might want to tell that to the blackbird fledgling that I saw fall out of the hedge last weekend Bally. On the south coast.

Seriously, if you don't know what you're talking about, it's better to shut up.

So by all means contact the new owners of the house and let them know how much you appreciate their trees. But be nice and recognise you have no power over them.

Starting with the premise that 'they are unreasonable' may not get you very far.

"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???

You are still wrong, @Ballymotedun. Official bird nesting season runs to 31st July (although for some species, & in some colder parts of the country it is a month later).
As today is only 6th July, how exactly are you perceiving yourself as in the right here?

Have any trees got preservation orders on them?

@Ballymotedun we have a farm just 6 miles inland from the SE coast and there are definately birds still nesting and still looking for partners here. Its been a late spring for many species for some reason this year. We had turtle doves doing their nuptual flights across the yard 2 weeks ago, so doubt those have nested, laid and fledged yet. We cannot cut hedges at all yet.

and as far as I am aware, its now illegal to even approach a nest with eggs in it. Thats why bird books dont have pictures of eggs in them any more

Oh dear @Ballymotedun. We have brand new robins, blue tits and starlings just fledged this week. Many birds have two or three broods per season...

Op, sympathy. Any ‘gardener’ who is happy to hack at hedges when birds are nesting is not worthy of the title. What a twat.

@NettleTea - you have turtle doves? You’re so lucky!

Yes petro I have trees in my garden. So do all the neighbours. Considering the size of the trees it is likely they were here when the houses were built.
The gardens are big and the trees are on the boundaries. They do not block the sun. My garden, with similar trees, has sunlight most of the day.
There are no neighbours at the other side of the next door house. The one at the back is too far away to be affected, plus the sun comes from that direction. There are no walls, only fences and hedges which DH looks after.
The birds are certainly still nesting. They nest twice a year in my garden. I can hear them singing as I write this and it is very sad to think they may lose the trees they return to every year.
It is well known in the area that the son has substance abuse problems, that he stole from his father and that he was only interested in getting his inheritance.
His father was very ill and disabled. He used to call out for his son in the night and DH went round.
This is not a personal crusade. I only heard about it this morning and I am trying to get as many facts as I can.
Wildlife is losing its habitats at an alarming rate. This and the fact that trees mitigate the effects of global warming means that we need more trees, not less, if we have a chance of preserving the planet for future generations.
Thank you for all the helpful comments and links which I will follow up.

@theunrivalledjoysofparenting I know!! we were so excited when we heard them, and then I saw one sitting at the top of an Ash. we put in some environmental options for them along with the RSPB/Natural England as we had had them in the past, but were worried that we had missed the boat. I dont think it has nested here, but we know they are in the high hedgerows a couple of fields away, so suspect this may have been a youngster looking for new territory, but not yet actually old enough to breed. Next year though, fingers crossed

Lots of birds nest twice so nesting season is far from over. Even down south!!

Lots of mature trees were cut down near us in February, except for an ash which the contractors were not allowed to touch.
Apparently their mortgage lender felt the trees were too close to the house.
I miss hearing the swoosh of trees in the wind and occasionally owls, but the owners have planted saplings and undeniably we get more light in our garden.

What do you think the nieghbour's motivation for tree-cutting is?

It is possible that house-buyers might like mature trees and would prefer to have the option to choose whether or not to keep them, themselves. Unless they are shading the garden, look really messy or have become too big for the space and need trimming back, it's hard to see what the neighbour thinks the advantage will be of removing them.

Presenting a house neatly for sale is a good idea. Imposing your own taste by taking irreversible choices is not. It sounds like a doer-upper, so one where a buyer will expect to do some work and have options left open.

Are you in a conservation area?
If so, felling or even lopping trees without prior consent is a criminal offence, so you could try the police, although you may not get much of s response.

Call the police..... the does isle branch I assume?

Ballymotedun is a troll and has had a few comments/threads deleted today so just ignore and don't feed it

People round where I live just hack trees down willy nilly any time of year. I can’t express enough how much it upsets me but there’s no preservation order, it’s their garden, I just have to suck it up. My most hated sound is that if a chainsaw being wielded by a tree surgeon.