Nesting chicks' miracle escape as tree is felled

Critics claim council broke countryside laws

THESE baby woodpeckers miraculously survived after the tree in which they were nesting was felled.

The incident, reportedly sanctioned by West Berkshire Council, happened on the banks of the River Lambourn in Newbury.

Local nature lovers have branded the action unnecessary and illegal.

The national Arboricultural Association advises: “The bird nesting season is officially from February until August... tree or hedge cutting should be done outside of the nesting season.”

It adds that contractors “must aim to avoid impact to nesting birds and infringement of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and breaching the European Habitats Directive 1992/Nesting Birds Directive”.

Despite this, tree surgeons were called upon after a willow tree was felled during recent high winds.

They chopped up the fallen willow into logs, but then felled two apparently healthy, nearby trees, one of which contained the nest.

Local rambler Derek Hodge, who lives nearby, said: “A few weeks before the willow fell I and many others noticed a pair of great spotted woodpeckers busy in and out of their nest in a nearby tree.”

He said he was horrified to discover on Saturday, May 23, that the tree had been felled, nest and all.

Mr Hodge added: “I expected to find dead chicks but, happily, I found the chicks still alive in their nest, in a log which had been cut clean through.

“How a tree surgeon didn’t see them, just inches away, as he cut the trunk into smaller sections, I’ll never know.

Despite their home having been felled and the disruption caused by chain saws, the parents have continued to visit the dangerously-exposed nest to feed their young.

Mr Hodge said he telephoned West Berkshire Council and was told that the felled tree had been causing an obstruction.

He said the council official then claimed it was the contractors’ responsibility to comply with the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

Mr Hodge went on: “You would have thought a tree officer would have used binoculars. It appears not. And the obstruction was still there – just cut and left to slowly submerge.”

Another rambler and nature lover, David Evans of Kiln Road, Newbury – who took this picture – said the nest is now empty.

He added: “Whether that’s due to predation or to the chicks having fledged, we don’t know. It’s all very disappointing.”

West Berkshire Council had not responded to requests for a comment as this newspaper went to press.