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2 miles of Thames vandalism

Paul Cooper

Paul Cooper

Senior Member
The river Thames from Sandford to Radley, on the tow path bank has had all the trees and i mean all the trees cut down. This a two mile stretch, they have left much of the fallen trees etc in the river. This an act of total vandalism, i suspect it was done by radley college so they could improve their rowing. An utter disgrace.:mad:
 
2 miles like this!
 

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Hi men ,

Paul , who can you contact over that ?. Sad fact is once they are down its a long process to see them back , same on the canals around me , chainsaw gone mad .


Hatter
 
Thats a disgrace, just what I meant by loss of habitat!
The National Trust do it quite regularly on the Wey navigation, and the EA flood defence have a depressing habit of doing similar to the natural and flood relief channels. :mad:
 
Looks like it was done by a bunch of amateurs.The controlling angling club did not have prior knowledge about it. EA have been informed.
 
My club suffered in the past at the hands of 'contractors' employed to do the job. When the EA arrived on one of our stretches this year we feared the worst, but it was their own employees who came this time and I must say, we couldn't have done any better ourselves if we'd been tasked with it! I can't speak highly enough of the team and how they went about their work. Judging by the photos above, the same can't be said for what has just been done on the Thames.
 
Paul we have a couple of fields near Wallingford where the same thing has happened - a little more skilful but still it look s awful and i am at a loss to see what the benefit is at all...
 
I'm absolutely gutted for you Paul. vandalism IS the only word that can describe the act. I doubt that it will be a consolation but in your picture it looks lie the roots have been left so the stumps will coppice (if allowed)...
 
That is horrific, just who would ever think that would be acceptable ?

I hope someone pays for that vandalism.
 
We had the same on a 500yd stretch of the wharfe! Apparently done by the land owner to prevent flooding. A lovely overgrown bit of river reduced to bare banks, All this was done in spring with no regard for nesting birds.
 
Feel for you couple of local spots being "regenerated" housing ect have had trees pulled down on large lengths very upsetting and uncalled for.
 
Saw a similar situation on the Severn downstream of Buttington Bridge on Sunday....... all the trees gone along both banks for about half a mile. :(
 
not sure what dates it applies to, may be variable but it is illegal to cut bushes,hedges etc. or otherwise during nesting season. I have seen moorhens,coots etc building nests as well as the garden birds. RSPB might actually be our ally in this, its gross and totally unwarranted. No one will ever convince me this is beneficial as flood prevention or anything else. Just as well i am not allowed to swear on here
 
The National Trust have cut down most of the bushes on the Thames at Runnymead and just left the odd large tree.

Two men are burning the bushes and not even recycling .


Micky
 
It does look rather drastic Paul.

It would be interesting to know the rationale behind the felling, I’m struggling to understand how could be justified in terms of flood prevention. From a conservation perspective the only justification would be if the felling was to create / maintain an open floodplain landscape for the benefit of ground nesting birds (lapwing, curlew, snipe, skylark etc.), species which prefer open aspect landscapes free from ‘predator perches’’. This type of habitat management isn't undertaken lightly and usually after extensive survey. I don’t know the area in question –but from a cursory look at a map I think it unlikely that this would be the reason.

I suggest you contact your local Forestry Commission office(mailto:southeast.fce@forestry.gsi.gov.uk) to enquire if this work was granted a Felling Licence or indeed if one was applied for which is a legal requirement. The local Woodlands Officer should be able to advise you on this and provide the justification behind the felling licence application.

In the unlikely event that the FC aren’t forthcoming on this (they are usually very helpful in my experience), then you can submit an FOI Act request as they are a publically accountable body and this information is in the public interest.

A Felling Licence is required if >5 cubic metre of timber is felled per calendar quarter – judging by the diameter of the stumps on your picture and the fact that a two mile stretch has been felled then I’d suggest that well over 5 cubic metres has been felled. An exception to this would be the felling of trees that have the following diameters when measured 1.3m from the ground:
◦8 cm or less
◦10 cm or less for thinning’s
◦15cm or less for cutting coppice

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/TimberVolumeCalculator.pdf/$FILE/TimberVolumeCalculator.pdf

Usually if a Felling Licence is granted then some form of mitigation is required such as compensatory planting / restocking. See here for more info: Felling Licences (England)

Judging from the stump on the left of frame, if the intention was to coppice then they haven’t done a particularly good job as the height of cut should be much lower. Nor would it be considered good practice to coppice the entire length.

The good news is that judging from your picture, they stumps haven’t been treated with herbicide (usually a blue or green staining is present on the stump) so the willow should grow back relatively quickly.
 
wouldn,t be surprised if they was following the idea if they felled the bankside trees then if heavy floods occurred again there wouldnt be any trees swept away and clogging the weirs up and holding water back, just an idle thought but this is getting more common place since the really bad floods
 
Knee jerk reaction to last year's floods. The public expect a response to the promises made by the government.

Seen a similar thing on a relief channel that passes close to our village. The relief channel was doing a perfectly satisfactory job but will now probably suffer from eroded banks.
 
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