Not that I’m normally one to call for more legislation, but there really ought to be a requirement to hold a licence to own or operate a chainsaw. It seems recently that no matter where I turn, their mournful wail is heard.
A month ago my neighbour removed a lovely and bountiful twenty plus year old apple tree. A fortnight ago, a bit further down the village someone decided against their forty foot weeping willow (ok, they had to employ a professional for that), and today I look over my back wall to see someone hacking away at a well established and mature cherry tree, in blossom beside their drive. There he was, wielding his electric chainsaw while standing on a kitchen chair and no PPE whatsoever, while his wife watched from beneath the overhanging branches! The inevitable result was comic and no blood was lost, but really…
I think perhaps before the availability of cheap chainsaws at DIY superstores, the thought of chopping down a tree of any size seemed more trouble than it was worth. Handsaws and chopping axes are hard work. If we don’t take these privately owned chainsaws out of circulation soon, the world will be a flat and dispiriting place. Let’s have an amnesty…
[later edit: Of course, I am minded to recall I took out a couple of conifers when I built the chicken run, and even now I’m considering a woodburner in the lounge… I guess I am missing at least two of those trees, the Willow and the Apple, and the sky appears larger where they stood.]
Rosher.Net 
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