The Trees at Biddulph High School

We live in a property which bordesr the grounds Biddulph High School, Knypersley, Staffordshire.

When we moved into the property in 1985 the fencing consisted of a three foot high wooden panelling in front of a hawthorn hedge.  There was an open aspect from our property onto the school grounds.  We had a few problems with too large trees very close to our boundary and were kindly removed by Staffordshire County Grounds. Over the years the hawthorn hedge has matured to a healthy seven foot with myself being responsible for its condition. I have no issues with it other than the school side is very rarely looked after.

In about 1994 we noticed a number of what appeared to be sticks had been placed in the ground in the corner of the school grounds.  These sticks turned out to be trees which over the years have grow to over forty to fifty feet in height and made a vast difference to our living environment.  The initial impact was that of light onto our property was affected, but the most annoying thing of all is the debris which come from the trees.

The trees are Silver Birch and the Silver birch is a tree which a height of up to 30 metres, and have a typical lifespan of between 60 and 90 years..

Birches are deciduous, with new leaves emerging in April.  The leaves are dropped at the end of October or early November, although this can be earlier, and the appearance of the new leaves in spring later, at higher elevations, where the climate is harsher.

Birches are monoecious, meaning that each individual tree has both male and female flowers. The trees can begin flowering when they are as young as 5 - 10 years old, and the flowers appear in the spring at the same time as the new leaves. The male flowers are drooping catkins, up to 3 cm. in length, whilst the female flowers are upright and 1.2 - 2 cm. in height. Pollination is by wind, and the female flowers ripen to form hanging catkins up to 3 cm. long in late summer or early autumn. The catkins contain hundreds of tiny seeds, each a two-thousandth of a gram in weight and having 2 transparent wings, which facilitate their dispersal by the wind. A large tree can produce up to 1 million seeds in a year, but only a few of these will germinate and grow into mature trees. The majority of seedling trees become established within 100 metres of their parent, but some seeds can travel long distances in the wind.

There in lies the problem we have, we are ‘showered’ with seeds from the trees, which

·         blow in through the windows of the bungalow,

·          stick to newly painted wood,

·         fill the gaps in our paving

·          and cover our very expensive motor vehicles. 

We are constantly having to brush the seeds up.

  

We have been very tolerant and just lived with the situation, which in our opinion has been brought about by the school.  If it hadn’t been for the actions of the school by planting the ‘WRONG’ species of trees we would not be in the situation we are now in.