Trees and Storm Arwen

Storm Arwen hit the UK yesterday with some tragic consequences. Fallen trees were behind many of the incidents including the loss of life, power outages, blocked roads and train cancellations. Trees are, of course, beautiful and essential to our general well-being and we should be caring for them better than we currently do. At this time of year, the propensity for stormy weather combined with trees still in leaf increases the likelihood of scenes like this.

Tree cover in Herefordshire is around 15%, well above the average for the UK (13%) and England (10%).

Reports of trees blocking roads are not uncommon in this part of the world.

Trees are a valuable, and renewable, resource for building materials and a key part of any natural environment. We enjoy having them around in villages, towns and cities because they look magnificent, absorb pollution, and provide shade for us and a habitat for wildlife. On a wider scale, they are important carbon sinks for our carbon dioxide emissions.  We should be caring for those trees we have and planting many many more (though only in the right places). Trees need care and maintenance, especially during their early and late years, if they are to live long and prosper.

We were fortunate to escape any damage from Storm Arwen. Wind gusts of 58 km/h (36 mph) and average hourly wind speeds of 12 km/h (7.5 mph) was as bad as it got on 26/27th. Overturned bins and planters were the only evidence for a storm that reached over 157 km/h (98 mph) in other parts of the UK.

Here is a brief video on why we often get tree planting wrong and why looking after what we already have is the best and most cost-effective way of tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and a host of ecological problems.