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The Disillusioned Tree Surgeon
I know a tree surgeon who is a true wildlife lover. He is also
an ornithologist. He is the sort of man who does his best to talk
people out of tree removal where he thinks it may not be necessary.
I have seen him do it. No bearded be-sandled academic
dilettante he, but a big, tough, highly knowledgeable man. No
one would argue with his sensible views. He lives down near
Thurrock, in the Southern part of the county.
He once told me the sorry tale of a dispute he had with the
Essex Wildlife Trust, which is responsible for Childerditch Common,
in around 2010, over some clearance they had done.
They had wiped out a hedge of some 30 feet wide containing
four pairs of garden warblers, a pair of nightingales and some
willow warblers. All were nesting. The reason they gave him was
that it was beginning to
encroach on a meadow
containing wild orchids.
His question to them
was, why could they not
have just trimmed it back
by a couple of feet. He
was aware, as they were
not, of all these species
Abbott's Hall Farm
Maldon Rd,
Gt Wigborough,
Colchester,
Essex, CO5 7RZ