Most of the trees on our site have tree protection orders and they are a designated conservation area so we have to obtain planning consent to do anything with them. Earlier in the week Nick and Val were given permission to remove some of their dead holly trees. No sooner had the email arrived giving consent than Nick and Val were out with chainsaw, ropes and ladder.
I confess I arrived a little late to the tree felling party because I was doing my Joe Wicks workout so I joined Nick, Val, Dave and Lucie when several trees were already down. Nick has an eye for assessing what needs to be done and making sure any branches are not going to fall on the neighbours fence or anyone. It was great fun.
The problem with the Holly trees is that they have grown up under the canopy of the larger trees and as a consequence they are quite spindly and tall. Leaning a ladder against them is a precarious activity particularly when using a chain saw.
Nick tied off the trunks to a branch above so that as he cut through they wouldn’t fall because they were held from above with several of us on the end of a rope.
It wasn’t long before Nick had done his stuff and Val was coming out with coffees for everyone. The community spirit lives on when there’s a job to be done.
I put in a planning application in February for work to be done on some of my trees but the lockdown stopped that so I’ve had to resubmit my application. There are a couple of dead Hollies as well as the topping out of an Ash tree and some management of two Lime trees which are brushing the roof of my neighbours bungalow.
It’s been too wet and windy to do much with my bees but it seems they don’t miss an opportunity to sting me and over the last two weeks I’ve been stung four times. I’m not involved in an inspection but weeding in the veg plot or hanging out the washing. As you can see from this photo my reaction is getting worse. This sting was on my left temple and apart from the initial sting I wasn’t too bothered but as the evening wore on the left side of my face blew up like a balloon. I managed to get some sleep and in the morning got some antihistamine cream from Dave and Lucie and a tablet.
The tablet made me drowsy so after lunch I slept for a couple of hours. The swelling is slowly going down and hope to be back to “normal” by the morning.
I’ve thought long and hard about what to do with these aggressive bees. If I replace the queen it will take 9 weeks for the current brood to go through their lifecycle and I don’t think I can live with that. I need to exterminate this colony and start again next spring. To destroy the bees the most humane way seems to be pouring rubbing alcohol between the brood frames.
I also need to enquire with my GP about how to stop the extreme reaction if possible and if necessary make sure I’ve got an epipen close to hand.
