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.

We can only do so much with the garden on account of the three small DC… I’ve planted a couple of roses and kept the pre-existing dahlia, roses and honeysuckle (or it might be some kind of jasmine, I’m not sure) alive despite the bindweed’s best efforts…

I didn’t know how miserable I would be here until we were already here, it’s a big change from where we used to live and a few circumstances beyond our control have changed and only made it harder. One of the few pleasures was seeing and hearing all the birds, watching the squirrels, hearing the owl at night.

The housing developer is delighted though… in their own words “We’ve got a big year shaping up already. Work is expected to begin onsite, bringing a brand new collection of homes to one of the county’s most charming villages. It’s always special watching a project come to life from the very first dig, and this one is set to be a highlight”

Can’t say it was very special watching the destruction this morning. And a PP was dead right, starter homes they are not… they’ve done another smaller development on the other side of the village and the cheapest house was £750k.

Conifers are not deciduous, hence leaves.

On the bright side, you might find that in the mid to long term they plant out the boundary with more appropriate trees. It could be really lovely in a couple of years!

What about looking at something like this. They send you the design and the plants and you plant them. It says in description that's theres some good plants for bird. Unfortunately won't help with the owl

www.gardenonaroll.com/products/wildlife-border

So it's a charming, classic village but now they're spoiling it with God knows how many new expensive houses and no regard for the countryside. Of course he's delighted, think of the profits

Really sorry OP. Don’t get mad; organise. I would get planting (this happened to us and O made myself feel better by planting numerous hazel and hawthorn trees in our garden that are really good for wildlife).

Have a look at the Woodland trust shop - they have bundles of native tree saplings at very reasonable cost - now is the right time time to plant.
I'm sorry about the trees - on the piece of land next to us every single tree has been cut down - not sorry about the huge leylandii, but the lovely deciduous trees are gone too. Plus a copse just along the land has been removed for housing - it's an old quarry so basically the land is just stones - no-one is interested in building a house there. And all the tawny owls, the bats, a lot of the birds, are gone 😢.

Sorry to hear you feel so down. You can’t change the fact that you’ve moved so you need to think about how you can make it better. I would definitely start by planting some trees at the bottom of your garden. Some grow remarkably quickly and you’ll become invested in the garden. It could be beautiful.

That’s a fucking monstrosity. I’d be having a breakdown x

So sorry to read this OP. For now, you could put out some bird food - at least it may help them a bit in these coldest months. I feed the birds, hedgehogs and foxes every night.

Maybe buy some cherry blossom trees for spring? There are different types, but we have slim tall ones (that grow upwards rather than outwards) and the blossom in Spring is stunning. This might cheer you up a bit. Sorry you're feeling so low.

You can't change what has been done sadly, but you can make your own garden wildlife-friendly and beautiful.

These developers are wankers though.

I’m a useless gardener but every year I buy a little Christmas tree in a pot, and after Christmas I plant it in the garden. I’ve got loads now. As long as you water them in the summer they grow really well - tall and fast. That would be a good start. Also can you put a trellis on the back fence and buy some climbers?

Agree with this

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?

Oh no :(

OP can you plant some? In your garden?

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.

I didn’t even know that house was there until this morning… now I’ve had to put the blackout blinds up in my baby’s room because the obnoxious spotlight is pointed right at the window

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. 🤬

YANBU

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

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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?