Dear Readers, I took a little wander down Lincoln Road, here in East Finchley, today, and was somewhat taken aback by the state of the lime trees. Holy Moly! In truth they did need a bit of a trim, but this is absolutely brutal. Not a single tree has escaped.
Pollarded trees always look as if they’re raising their fists to the sky to me.
Here’s a shot of them from last time I took a walk a few months ago.
Now, it’s true that they did look a bit shaggy previously, and it’s also true that they will definitely come back – this one already has some inconvenient growth at the bottom of the tree already.
But some of the big plane trees on the High Street are also up for pollarding, and I strongly suspect that there are magpie/crows nests in some of them. Why does the council so often decide to get stuck into this in the spring, when everything is coming into leaf and just starting to get going for the new year? I guess there are problems with man power, and presumably you have to take your tree surgeons when you can get them, but it still makes me sad. The streets will be a lot warmer than they need to be for a good while until the leaf cover is regenerated, for sure. And lime trees, in particular, provide food for lots of insects, who in return help to feed all the baby blue tits and other birds who are currently in the nest. Sigh. It sometimes seems that everything is about somebody else’s convenience, and nature always comes last. I think the tree in the photo below is expressing its opinion in a very understandable fashion.
Yes. I am with the final lime. Council approach seems bizarre.
All are a cut too far!
I live not far and see the same done in our area. I wonder whether it’s just bad organisation/lack of resources, or actually a will to remove as much as possible. That way, the tree is less “dangerous” and requires little care for longer. I believe that nature’s needs and environment are very low on their priorities (next to non-existant). One year we had a tree in our front space “trimmed” by a “tree surgeon” and there wasn’t much left of it, despite my attempt to curb the wild pruning. Luckily this year we found another “surgeon” and the tree still has branches.
I noticed elsewhere (abroad) that plants are often seen as a nuisance, a danger and just soemthing to dispose of at the earliest opportunity.
Trees are wonderful, I wish they were treated with respect
Hi Judith, I hadn’t thought of the ‘let’s cut back as hard as possible so we don’t need to do it again in the next few years’ angle, but I bet you’re right. I just hate how disorganised and disrespectful it all is….
Very depressing especially when one imagines thr rich diversity of creatures in the Full leaved tree of your ‘before’ photo. I wonder if the timing has to do with Council finance (end of year fast spending/ start of year catching up…)
And unfortunately people do complain about ‘overgrown’ trees…
Perhaps the people of East Finchley should follow the approach of the people of Sheffield?!
Yes, people have been tying themselves to trees and I personally was involved in a two year campaign to protect some trees that were endangered in our local wood, but the councils come under pressure from the insurance companies and so it just seems to go round and round. Very frustrating…