YP Letters: Loss of trees destroys habitat for Sheffield's birds

What is the impact of the Sheffield tree felling scandal on nature?

I HAVE a small, rather untidy back garden which I can view from the kitchen window.

There are three shady mature trees to the east inside a low drystone wall and three mature fruit trees, plus a snowberry bush inside the northern boundary fence. I enjoy seeing the many birds that come into the shadow of the trees and also hide behind the cover of the leaves when the sun is shining.

My garden is a safe place for local birds and hedgehogs to feed as I don’t use slug pellets or insecticides, and the birds do a useful job of keeping garden pests within limits.

While there are still some fledgling birds, I continue to provide a few bird feeders containing seeds, nuts and fatballs as well as several  dishes of water.

These are for hedgehogs, birds and insects in shady places, some at ground level.

Today I watched a pair of goldfinches eating seeds and drinking in the shade and wondered yet again about the wild creatures in Sheffield  now deprived of so many  mature trees.

This affects not only birds but also bats, insects and other invertebrates seeking protection from the sun’s rays.

You don’t get much shade under a sapling, after all.