Rushes

Recommend Kania traps for squirrels - work a treat and dispatch them instantly.

If you start looking at alternatives that could go there it might be easier to take the decisin to remove it. Check out a Paulownia - really fast growing would prefer dry but worth a go.

If it is park scale then you can take a pragmatic approach - just keep planting trees. You will have them at all different ages, the old ones will die the young ones grow and the ones in the middle work their way along to being old. Much better to invest money in a sucession of trees than spend money looking after one. If it's in your garden - that's different.

Pigs - just fence pigs on it. Shoul be break even.

When I bought my first house there was something called MIRAS - mortgage income relief at source. You got a tax rebate for the mortgage on one house. That went away and landlords were able to get higher rents as a result - because housing wasn't subsided. I wonder if bringing this back would enable people to own their own houses - added to this the mortgages of landlords no longer being tax deductible [I think I am correct here?] then the balance would move to private ownership. Wouldn't be cheap but fixer uppers would attract VAT - which would increase revenue to HMRC [landlords are vatable so can reclaim] Would that work?

Put a drain at the bottom of the slope - don't tarmac the slope this will make any water problem worse. You could put a drain near the house - but not sure how much it would be used if the first one is doing it's work. I would do the drain and then let it settle and see how it is. Basically if you have the water away what you surface it with is down to you.

Looks like a downward slope to the house. if you are somewhere it rains hard I would worry less about the pooling water and more about how you get the water away. When you have got the water gone before it hits your drive you can worry about the surface. I can't stress how much I would concentrate on getting the water away first. Worry about the surface after. I live in one of the driest counties in the UK and this was a problem I had to solve.

Rowans are generous in their seed. I just gathered a lot, they were at different stages of maturity and threw them in a pot. Some came up many didn't, but I wasn't looking for commercial germination rates - just enough for me. Don't worry to much. Only advice that might be worth something, harvest the seeds from a mature tree that is growing in a similar situation to yours if you are looking for longevity [rowans aren't known for it]

Maybe try this? https://www.theplasticpeople.co.uk/magnetic-double-glazing-kit/

Has the level of the ground around the tree been raised? When it has been this is generally what happens.

I worked at a company where if expenses were questioned they were re-submitted at a higher cost. It might be worth checking that your detailed breakdown did the same - a few forgotten extras. You have nothing to lose. 🙂

This looks not so good: If there is anything that stops the tree passing food and water up from the roots then the longevity of the tree is likely to be short. This looks not great.

I think if you look closely you will find caterpillas - just noticed the same at a box hedge I pass often. Solutions, wrens, tits or some chemical.

@the village idiot Can you show how some of the older stands and clearances have grown please? Also late mushrooms - have you got these, abundant round here. I so want to see how some of the parts that you have managed have changed, soil, fungi, wildlife and flora. Also any reports of income that you have managed to make because more would love to do it and want to know now long it takes this money pit to start paying just a little bit back, Just go round and be snap happy. I know I am not the only one that wants this.

I really don’t see what the problem is here. If you really think this is a hoax then what exactly is so difficult about putting on a mask, washing your hand, and staying 2m from people is it really so difficult? Who exactly is going to laugh at you? I mean you could call it mind control or something like that, but if you looked at it like norovirus just instead about 1 in 200 people die. Is this really really too hard to bare FFS there is a bunch of nonsense being talked here, my sister in law is a nurse, she normally does post operative care for people that are coming out of surgery, not any more - she is nursing people dying. Now as a nurse she won’t be judgemental about their general all round health, I might be – that is why I am not a Doctor, but best leave my prejudices here. What this means is that anyone but ANYONE that you know that needs surgery of any kind is on a longer queue than they need to be. This is not because we have a national health service that is crap it is because we have run out of nurses and doctors. So please, just wash your hands, wear a mask and avoid crowded places. Use your brains and if you don’t believe any of this – just go and talk to someone dealing with the fallout of people that don’t wear masks, don’t wash their hands, and go to crowded places. Medical professionals are tired and a bit fed up with people that don’t think about this a norovirus on steroids and seem to have a problem with keeping people alive to live their lives to the full and their own. The child, grandfather, sibling or partner that isn’t getting the care they need is because people aren’t using their brains – it is down to how all of us behave. I ask again what exactly is so difficult about washing hands, wearing masks and avoiding crowded spaces and just behaving like a grown up responsible human being?