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The calm after the storm

Just when Mike and I were beginning to prepare the stumpery area to make it hedgehog friendly and maybe resite the duck house and add some more cover,  the top part of a huge Oak tree suddenly snapped off towards the top and it came crashing to the ground on Monday afternoon although very thankfully we happened to be out at the time;  we are often working in the garden and I hate to think what could have happened as the huge top section that broke away was extremely large and covered quite an area when it hit the ground.    Most of the stumpery survived the impact but the large perching branches were taken out  and the right hand side of the stumpery will need to be restructured.     So, our plans to try rehome a hedgehog at some stage may have to wait until next year and once hibernation time is over  as the whole corner section of the garden will have to have some major tidying and the Oak remains will have to be chain-sawed in sections in order to remove it.  

   Having said all this,  there is one benefit  !!  ......... I have been wanting a large log or branch to use for photgraphing the birds where I can place seeds or pastry in hidden cavities so I can take more natural shots of the birds without food being seen in the photographs so it looks like I have a lot of new material to work with now     lol    

We have the tree surgeons out every two years to give us  a health and safety check/report on all the 50 mature Oak and Beech trees but this would have been hard to spot and must have already had a well hidden fracture in it which was split in the very strong winds on Monday.     Just thankful we hadn't already got a resident hedgehog and that the Cyrils and birds were fine.    In fact the Cyrils are now treating the Oak as a new play area  !!

To give you an idea of the Oak canopy  that fell to the ground I took a few quick pics ....      

the Oak covers a large area and as far right as you can see in the photo .......

there was quite a lot of debris that wasn't in this photo but was able to collect most of that this morning,

taking 22 large garden canvas bags of leaves and debris to the local tip 

the poor stumpery is partially hidden to the right and the tall perches exist no more :(

this photo gives you a rough idea of how large this Oak top was, it covers the entire frame  lol

  • Oh my word, Hazy. That could have been really nasty if you and Mike had been in the garden. We had very strong winds down here but I think you must have caught the worst of it.

  • Wow Hazy, the force of nature, what a good job you and Mike were out at the time that fell, and also that it fell at that end of your garden, not near the house.   It has been stormy here, but no damage luckily.    

  • Hi TJ & Gaynor,  yes, it was fortunate indeed that it fell where it did and it was leaning the correct way otherwise it would have taken the fence out or worse still gone into the road.    Seems even though we do the responsible thing of getting the trees safety checked it doesn't necessarily prevent something like this happening.    Really glad the wildlife was ok, I was dreading finding an injured Cyril, Corvid or Wood pigeon as they are always in that area.    Perhaps one of the Cyrils was responsible - chewing too much bark or building too large a drey  lol      We carried out a lot of debris/leaf collecting this morning but somehow think tomorrow (weather permitting) is going to be a rather long and full garden work day  -  I'll hand the chainsaw to Mike though  !

  • Hazel, So glad that you and Mike are ok!  Perhaps the lesson is to check the weather forecast for incoming storms before doing any gardening!  Enjoy a cup of tea inside if the tail end of a hurricane or other high winds are forecast!

  • Sheep Dip! That is the Godzilla of Oak trees and I am so glad you ( and anybody else ) were not underneath it. During my Navy years we had to run from many a hurricane/storm but sometimes got caught out still. I remember during one such event the storm smashed all the saucers and plates so we had to drink tea out of cups from then on. If you require any volunteers to lend a hand in the cleaning and cutting and disposing then just say the word as I have some days off from Friday.

  • Evening Ann & Bill

    @ Ann,  trouble is you can't believe the weather forecasts as invariably they are wrong and even though they did predict strongs winds for our area it was more prolonged than forecast however, don't worry, we don't go out near the Oaks if strong winds are predicted and even during calm periods the branches can suddenly break off due to fracturing in the storm but only dropping to the ground hours or days afterwards.   I'm going to pay the Cyrils extra nuts to give me daily reports on any dangerous trees/branches   lol

    @ Bill  lol,  drinking tea out of cups ? whatever next lol ! bet you had some fun during your days in the Navy and lots of stories to tell ;)  you must have good sea-legs, unlike me who gets sea-sick if a boat leaves the jetty  lol

    thanks for the very kind offer of help; Mike and I should be able to get it done in a couple of days with the chainsaw - its better than gym membership although my upper arms will probably start looking like Popeyes once I lug a few logs   lol    who needs spinach ?  !!      But you're always welcome to call in for a cuppa if you are passing our way !  we will even give you a few Cyril Squirrels to take home lol