Following on from David Cracknell’s observation that “Britain’s love of trees is real, but it needs to grow up”, we have the story of Nik Mitchell’s response to the routine pollarding of some local poplar trees near Sandwich in Kent.
Yes, that is a harsh cut to make in Spring, early Winter is best for a drastic prune because it gives the tree time to react before growth starts.
But trees are like, literally super tough, so it’s not a dealbreaker.
Pollarding is a traditional method of renewable tree management, the same as coppicing except for the short trunk. It:
- Looks pretty
- Supplies wood for fuel, baskets, and fodder known as tree hay
- Is a convenient height for pruning, deer & livestock can’t reach the leaves
- Prolongs the tree’s life
- Has to be maintained
By Charles01 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Given that Nik’s current header image on his Get Wild facebook page is him standing in a bluebell covered old copse, it’s remarkable that he doesn’t know this.
The pollarded poplars in question were overhanging a road where a dropped branch could be fatal to drivers, and poplars have relatively weak wood that’s prone to snapping.
Below are some unpruned old poplars nearby, with dead wood and splits gaping down to the base, and multiple trunks pulling in different directions. As a great arborist once said, they are “punky, crispy, ready to squish thee”.
They aren’t safe in their untamed state, and they line this road for a good stretch.
Below are the remnants of ancient pollarding cuts, fallen into disrepair; it’s possible some were snaps rather than cuts.
These two are death traps, with mature single tree trunks growing from below the pollard point, waiting to tear the base trunk in half and land bang on the road. Just add wind.
Poplars regrow like billy-o from a pollarding cut, and are clonal trees that shoot from the base, effectively making them impossible to kill by felling, but dour biology is not useful to Nik’s feelings case.
Yes, the old poplars are a fine skyline feature, pollarding them changes the feel of the roundabout a lot.
“It feels like a significant loss for the environment”
No trees were removed, only pruned – ed
You might say I am picking on Nik unfairly.
But I am picking on him fairly and squarely.
Nik went to a lot of effort to promote his environmental activism and his feelings-based tree pruning ideas.
Nik’s basic contention is that pollarding these poplars is “decimation of the countryside for little gain”.
I leave it in your gentle hands, Dear Reader, to decide what you think of the idea that ancient, sustainable tree management practices are “decimation of the countryside”, and that keeping you and other drivers safe from trees and branches falling on the road is “little gain”.
Let’s imagine a worst case scenario: the poplars were pollarded too hard, too late, and they all died in a scorching Summer drought, possibly a Kentish wildfire scenario.
The row of dead trees would make an ideal spot for a mixed native hedge, perhaps studded with standard trees like birch and rowan, which will support much more wildlife than a single species row of poplar trees.
Do you think this is meaningful environmental activism, or a tiresome waste of everyone’s time?
To be clear: I like Nik, he cares about nature on our island to the point of radical conclusions about road safety, which is a great thing when it’s done right.