Hedges will always be at risk

Dear Sir - I felt compelled to respond to your article on the Dark hedges which gave air to the opinions of a dark hedges watcher. What a shame that they did not tender for the consultation report on the trees and come down and direct the arborists who did the work.

I too am enchanted by the Dark hedges and as an arborist with over 20 years caring for trees find them to be unique. The sad truth about the Hedges is that they are living organisms that are at the end of their lives. We should be more concerned about keeping the trees as safe as possible for as long as possible without losing their unique character. I was privileged to be a part of the team of experts who recently worked on the trees. Our priority was to remove the major obvious hazards (to remove all of the hazards here would have left us with no hedges). Does your watcher really think that signs to bring in more people are the best way to preserve the trees? Maybe another question worth asking might be where is the ground that was promised by the landowners for replanting for the next generation and why are they allowed to nail their hideous fences onto the trees. The trees are protected and even if you own the land that protected trees grow on it is an offence to vandalise or damage them. The hedges will always be at risk as long as they sit on greedy farmers land.

Yours upset, Rob Gibbs