This was my lovely Ash tree in January. The birds loved it almost as much as I do. The larger birds like crows would sit at the top, jackdaws would sit slightly lower down and the smaller birds like sparrows and chaffinch and members of the tit family would perch on the lower branches. I hung bird feeders on the lower branches and would have a constant stream of avarian visitors throughout the day.
The sparrows would nest in the ivy growing up the trunk and in the spring there would be insignificant purple flowers appear before the leaves, undoubtedly of great importance to many insect varieties.
But the neighbours don't love my Ash tree and have been having mild heart attacks every time the wind blows for years. And at the beginning of February the council came and did this to my poor Ash tree. They wanted to take it down completely, but I managed to save this much of it in the hope it will shoot out again and become a proud tree again, after all it was here before any of us were and probably before the house.
I think it looks like something from the witches garden in a horror story now. A lonesome crow still manages to find a perch on it in keeping with the image.
And the sparrows are still nesting in the ivy.
