To have spent most of the day in tears over trees

[NoMoreTrees]

We moved into this house just shy of a year ago and I regretted it almost instantly. I absolutely hate it here, it has pretty much ruined my life and for the last few months my mental health has been in tatters and I’ve had some very, very dark days.

One thing I did like about the house though was that at the end of the garden, on the other side of the fence were some beautiful tall trees. Dozens of trees with hundreds of birds that you can hear singing all year round, an owl, squirrels and other wildlife. The trees ran the entire length of our row of houses and a bit further.

On the other side of the trees is a small field, and while we were having surveys etc done they brought up a planning application for a small development of 9 houses in that field, which had been rejected by the water company.

Well I’m sure you know where this is going… obviously the water company were offered more money changed their minds because before the sun was even up this morning a bunch of men in hi viz and hard hats rocked up with a chainsaw, a bulldozer and a woodchipper and one by one started tearing all the trees down. By the time they had downed tools and fucked off there was only one tree left standing at the end of our garden and one or two surviving further down… for now at least.

I just can’t stop crying. I can’t even bring myself to look out of the windows at the back of the house. All those beautiful trees, all those birds, all that wildlife, gone. It was one of the very, very few things that made living here tolerable, and now instead of trees and birdsong, there is going to be a building site. Just when I thought I couldn’t fucking hate it here more.

It's a tragedy. I would be in despair too. Trees are simply not valued by corporations although they keep us and wild creatures alive and breathing, literally and spiritually.

That's truly crap. Can you start making plans to move?

I'm sorry op, that would make me sad too.

Any chance you can move? I know it's not all that simple but if it's having such an effect on your mental health I'd do everything I could to find somewhere else.

I rarely ever comment on MN, but I find this absolutely heart breaking.

Fucking wankers. That's so shit ☹️

You can't do anything about those trees now, but you do have a nice big empty garden so go ahead and plant your own trees. You can get small native saplings quite cheap and will be surprised how fast they can grow.

That’s such a shame, the trees looked beautiful.

Maybe complain to the council, they may not have had the proper permission to fell them. I know that it doesn’t bring them back though.

This is happening everywhere as more and more developments are built to cater for our expanding population. We're already one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. It's very sad.

Bastards.

Get planting, OP.

When I'm Queen of the Whole World all trees will be protected.

We can’t move… we came here because it was all we could afford, and thanks to this the house is now probably worth a good few grand less than we’re paying for it. I’ve never been more profoundly unhappy in my entire life than I have been in the last few months, and that’s really saying something. This is just the icing on the shitcake.

Oh wow, not unreasonable at all, that's really rubbish.

That's despicable. I would be devastated. You could check if removing them was part of the permission but of course it wouldn't bring them back.

I have very tall trees in my garden and they bring in so much wildlife, I love hearing the tawny owls calling in the night. My neighbours moan and want me to get rid of them, I refuse, they were here before our houses were built and I love having them.

Near me so many trees and ancient hedgerows have been grubbed out by huge developers, it's heartbreaking. Some were done against planning regs but the large developers like persimmon, redrow etc don't care and neither does the council. I used to see buzzards and rabbits where there are now hundreds of houses. It's ironic because while the council is happy to let these beautiful mature trees and hedgerows be destroyed they at the same time bang on about greening the city and planting more trees...

Oh that’s awful . I despair at all this destruction of our natural world .

Hugs to you. That sounds awful. If you can, plant some trees on your side of the fence so that the lovely birds will have a new home.

Don't feel bad for grieving - unexpected things can hit really hard. Our village shop changed hands. The new people are very rude brusque and not seeing the usual shopkeepers has been strangely tough.

That's shit, I'd be so unhappy they've destroyed such natural beauty Op

Ugh that’s so sad. Why do they even need to cut those boundary trees down to build houses in that field?? The company should be able to come up with a plan to avoid them surely. Stupid!

Bloody hell OP, that really is awful 😞 I also hate to see perfectly healthy trees ripped out, it's no wonder it's made you feel so low.

If you can, try and plant some things in your own garden this year. Mixed wildflowers are easy and don't need a green thumb (which is good because I have some sort of black thumb of death for plants) and will attract bees. This might be a bit niche but bees really ljft my mood.

You sound like a nice person for appreciating the wildlife x

Trees are the first thing they tear down , even if it doesn’t impede access to anything else

When we bought out house there was a beautiful blossom tree out the front which was directly in front of the window. After storm Arwen it became a risk of falling on houses and it was chopped down and I was gutted.

I naively thought that even if the planning permission was appealed and got through the trees would be safe, because they’re only around the perimeter and there was such an abundance of wildlife. But all the conifers and most of the deciduous trees are gone, from what I can see only these two, and maybe the one right at the end are still standing… whether that’s by design or because they just didn’t get round to them… guess we’ll find out soon enough.

I'm so sorry OP. Other than the trees, what makes living where you are so awful??

Oh OP, I really feel for you. This happened at the back of our old house and it was horrible. We did move, but even in our new house we are wary of someone doing the same thing to the tree the other side of the fence.
Could you plant some already established trees your side (appreciate this is pricey) or even something like a hawthorn hedge that birds will love? They will eventually come back.

Aren’t they just conifers though? We had to cut loads in our garden recently as they were just shading everything. Why don’t you plant some native trees/fruit etc in the back of your own garden?

YANBU at all, I would be devastated. I'm so sorry OP.

What a shame, Op, no wonder you feel sad about the loss of so many mature trees.

There’s (another) massive housing estate being built on the edge of our village (which is now twice the size it was 10 years ago, but with no new schools or GP surgeries 🤬) and they’ve destroyed over a mile of ancient hedgerow and dozens of mature trees to build on what used to be actively farmed fields. Breaks my heart every time we go that way. And there are plans for more development in the near future on the other side of the village.

I know there is a need for more housing, but these developments are not first time buyers or social housing, just large, expensive ‘executive’ housing.