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    Mary Gilbert

    1 year, 10 months ago

    Really frustrating afternoon here. The Forestry Commission has given permission for many hectares of trees to be felled in the woods at our local quarry and they moved in today – at the height of nesting! When questioned we were told… I quote ” each driver checks inspects each tree from their seat” Really? I know the machines are big, but THAT big? And they really expect to spot nests with their naked eyes when they start before dawn? Sooooo irritated to put it mildly. We are up in arms, but the trees will be gone, and with them the birds, before anyone listens, let alone takes action 🙁

    9 Comments
    • That’s terrible. And the excuse about checking is hopeless. Do you have any wildlife police up there who could be contacted? We called our local ones when a tower block was being demolished where I worked and they were great. We were assured by the contractors (wrongly) that they had checked for nests before starting. They hadn’t and herring gull chicks were spotted up there by staff in a neighbouring building, police called and demolition halted immediately. They even flew a helicopter over the building to check! All work was postponed for about three months to make sure that the site was clear. I thought it was illegal to ‘disturb’ nesting sites for any species (which the work will inevitably do). More so if any protected species are nesting there.

      • Sadly no wildlife police nearby. It is illegal, but their response has so far been accepted ny the Forestry Commission. There are owls in the woods but otherwise nothing protected (as far as I know). The trees were planted for felling, that’s not the issue – although the area looks ugly now. It’s just the timing is all wrong – they only needed to wait another month.

    • Sadly it happens all the time Mary, we have the same problem down here with the NP decimating a Skylarks nesting area by planting trees. When challenged they said a survey was carried out and there was nothing there. You can’t explain that to someone with a piece of paper which says they are an ecologist straight out of University walking around the area in Januarythat they are never there at that time of year. Another area lost to moorland birds which are in decline. I have only seen 3 pairs this year. Plus this land has just been bought by Boris’s father which makes it even worse as it fits in with their mad tree planting ethos at the moment.

    • The drivers of the harvesters will really only be looking out for raptor nests as they know they will get a big fine if they go near a nest. A local forestry estate had to stop felling two years running when a Goshawk started building a nest in a stand of trees that they were felling. The forest owner wasn’t too upset as the timber price had gone up by the time they were able to start felling again, and it has been going up ever since.

    • Interestingly if one wants to plant an area of land with spruce trees for commercial timber, people object saying it will be a wildlife desert but lo and behold 45 years later at harvest time it turns out that there is wildlife in there. It is just different to open moorland or broadleaf woodland. We have recently got permission to plant an area of hill land and it involved an archaeological survey, a habitat survey and a bird survey which involved bird counts in mid April, May, June and July. The survey followed protocols set out by Scottish Natural Heritage and produced a very comprehensive list of what was seen where and when on the site plus a buffer area outside the site. These surveys then allowed us to work out what sort of trees could be planted where and what had to be left as open space. There was a lot of consultation with neighbours and multiple public bodies before permission was given. We have lots of skylarks this year but are a bit short on swallows.

      • Sandy, that is interesting, so what types of trees are you going to plant and in what quantity?

        • Howard, It is an area of 150 hectares total, 16ha of native broadleaves ie Birch, Alder, Rowan and some Oak. 14ha of Scots Pine, Norway spruce, Noble and Douglas Fir. 80ha of Sitka spruce for commercial timber which will pay the bills. 40ha of unplanted open land which is heather at the top of the hill for ground nesting birds, plus open round two private water supplies and one iron age fort and another ancient settlement. Conifers at 2×2 metre spacing broadleaves at 3×3. Deer fence round the perimeter to avoid the need for tree tubes. We have a lot of Sika deer and a few Roe and they will still have plenty of other land to live on locally.

      • Sandy I think the swallows and martins are very late this year – or indeed, very low in numbers

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