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.

I am SO sorry OP. I have a true affinity with trees, I feel like they are the ancient guardians of earth and they always make me feel so peaceful. I'm really sorry- is there anything you could plant that would bring you joy?

Plant some conifers at the end of your garden, they're easy to grow and shoot up quickly.

There used to be one large ash tree just outside my house and it was cut down a few years ago due to disease. I was devastated. An old photo popped up on FB memories of it a few days ago and it made my heart hurt. So I totally get it. I would be heartbroken. Those trees were lovely.

They do but they are not that good for wildlife.

A mix of different trees will be much better.

I would plant something at the bottom of your garden to act as a screen.

That's horrible. No wonder you're upset. I'm so sorry @NoMoreTrees 😢

No advice but I feel for you and wish you all the best.

Before it got dark I could see a few birds sitting forlornly in the one tree left at the end of our garden… poor things are probably wondering where their homes have gone 😢 I’m tempted to send DH to the garden centre first thing tomorrow, but neither of us really has a clue when it comes to gardening

That is absolutely terrible 😢 you poor thing. Don't know what to say

I understand, it is very very upsetting and it does look barren now.

Perhaps now you should plan to plant some down there, but better check out what you can plant on a boundary without someone on the other side trying to make you remove or cut them. ( Not evergreen, or not too close together if they are? .. I think their may be some guidelines. )

This happened to us and I was so sad when the birds were flying about looking :(

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.

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.

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’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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.