wildfisherman

Thanks for your replies. Doesn't sound good! If I was to try glyphosate, is that just regular Roundup and should I make an effort to treat every single sucker that I see? Hi Macpherson! If your Glen Shiel is the one I think it is I'm really close to you, on Knoydart, south shore of Loch Hourn. Small world.

I've got a horrible problem with an aspen. Maybe 35 years ago someone gave me an aspen seedling and I planted it at the edge of my garden near the polytunnel. Much later it started putting up little offshoots in the polytunnel but I more or less kept on top of it. It got steadily worse. Part of me thought if I just leave it standing maybe things will be ok but if I cut it down it will panic and put all its effort into the little offshoots. Anyway, eventually I did cut it down and it has since gone mental. There are little aspens coming up everywhere, metres and metres away. Is there anything I can do about this? Cut them all off and hope that deprived of leaves and photosythesis the whole thing dies? Is there some sort of industrial strength systemic herbicide I could use? If I don't do anything it will completely take over.

The house is North facing so they don't interfere with the sun. They do, however, make quite a mess with their pollen, then seeds, then leaves. Many thanks to everyone for all your replies. What I take from all this is that they are probably not too great a threat to the house, but there's not much I can do to them anyway. Much talk of leaving them for 10 years, no-one saying 'Get them down now!' I doubt I'll replant, partly because I don't want to clutter up the open space in front of the house, partly because of my age - I won't be around to see them reach any great size! It's all food for thought. Thanks again to everyone.

The very top blew out of it about 25 years ago. I was younger then and maybe more reckless and went up and tidied it up myself.

The salmon are not doing so well at all since the arrival of the salmon farms. There's brown trout in a lochan up the hill, but that's not quite the same.

That's not so encouraging! I had suspected something a bit like that. I had looked at them and thought 'where would you cut and how would it heal'. Maybe birch are not as forgiving as other species. I fish for langoustines, using pots. Other possibilities around here are crabs, lobsters and then shellfish like scallops. There's not a lot of actual fish. You can catch mackerel in the summer and there's a fishery for sprats in the autumn, but most of the boats rely on langoustines.

They don't grow fungal brackets, but there are a few fungi grow around the base of the smaller one in the autumn. I think it's just coincidence though, I don't think they're linked to the tree. There is indeed plenty of space, but there are deer also and I wouldn't want any more fencing.

Indeed. A few years ago I was poking around on a price comparison website to see if I could get cheaper insurance, and they were all asking if there were trees close to the house. I backed off and stayed with my current insurer. I'm pretty sure I was never asked when the house was first insured, though maybe they'd say I should have told them. Knowing of insurance companies' tendency to try and wriggle out of things if they can I wouldn't be confident of being covered. What I'm trying to figure is, how likely are they to be a danger. I think it's a risk I'd be taking rather than the insurers. ............. Typed before your second post came in. How far away are you? I'm on the mainland opposite the bottom end of Skye. Cutting them back a bit might be a compromise - keep the trees but reduce the threat.

That's what I kind of hoped. But thank you, for jumping in so soon.

Thanks. At least I gather from your post that it's not complete madness to leave them there. Very undecided!

I've got a dilemma in front of my house. I'm a fisherman, so I don't really know about trees, and I would appreciate advice from those who do. These two birch trees have been here as long as I have. They were large when I came, over 40 years ago, but they have got even larger. My wife is now scared of them when there are strong winds and would like them down, whereas my feeling is that they aren't actually a problem and that I really like them being there. I'm in the NW of Scotland, with the house facing to the North and a big hill behind giving protection from the prevailing wind, though obviously we can have extreme winds from any direction. I'm sure in any year one could expect winds gusting to 60mph or so and they can be even stronger. The ground is basically raised beach, with no depth of soil but not boggy or anything. If you dig down you very quickly come to ancient shingle very compacted together but with no voids between stones, all filled in with gritty soil. The trees themselves look to be in good enough shape, though the smaller one does have a place where a branch looks to have been ripped off (but a long time ago) - could rot be getting in? There are birch woods nearby and trees do come down in the gales - which is my source of firewood - but when you see the ground they are rooted in it's always wetter or steeper and you can see that they maybe didn't have such firm foundations. My other feeling is that these trees are so close to the house that if the worst happened and one did come down, that it wouldn't have picked up much momentum and would have a soft sort of landing if it did hit the house - or is that wishful thinking? Is this a cut and dried situation, or could a case be made either way?

It's 100% not a telegraph pole! It's way too thick at 40cm and is deformed all the way up the other side, not nice and round. I have a number of telegraph poles from where they replaced the copper with a buried cable many years ago. Also some powerline poles which they change if they have any concerns. They come in really handy.

Thanks everyone. I'll accept the common wisdom that is hasn't come from far away at all. I still like it!

I realise this is completely unhelpful, but I'm reluctant to cut a lump off because if I'm going to keep it as a bench I quite like it with its worn ends. A part of its history. I had hoped those strange knobbles were indicative of something, or could at least rule local trees out, but if those sort of things can be found on local conifers that would be a more likely explanation than mine.

This log washed up on a high tide recently in the northwest of Scotland. I retrieved it because it's not the sort of object you want to leave floating around in the sea and it might make a nice thing to sit on and look out at the day. But I've no idea what it is. It's a fair size - about 40cm in diameter at the base and 5 metres long. The most distinctive thing about it is these strange bulges it has at four or five points. One has worn down to a paler colour, presumably from where it has been rolling around on a beach. The 'other' side of it has a major flaw, which looks like maybe it was damaged when it was smaller and had since grown with a continuing wound. My guess is that it's a piece of tropical hardwood which was rejected because it was so damaged that only half of it would be any use and it was all more trouble than it was worth, but maybe it's something more mundane. Can anyone help?