I took a trip today into Brighton for a wander around…
From the bus on the way back, I thought I glimpsed one of my (now almost rare) former elm ‘flock.’ It stands in the middle of a 70’s development to the south of Lewes prison and its owner, a Miss ? used phone me most years to ask if Mark or I would carry out an inspection and also to enquire whether she should have any pruning work carried out upon it.
If I was looking at the same tree, I could clearly see where she had spent money on having a limited crown reduction carried out years ago but no attention in recent years in evidence, so guess she’s moved on, perhaps to the next world… [I was Dutch Elm Supervisor for East Sussex CC between 1997 and 2004 while working for the Sussex Downs Conservation Board. Sadly the scheme has since gone belly up].
Earlier, while walking along Western Road, the air filled with the drone of passing busses, I noticed a high-pitched trilling sound. Upon looking across the road, I noticed an apparently solitary male goldfinch 30 feet up in a roadside tree singing his heart out. Seemed rather surreal!