Sandra Chapman: ​Do we care enough for trees, Mother Nature's gift to us?

With such difficult, nasty weather, reading newspapers was about all I could manage plus the dog walking of course. She was determined not to be forgotten. Dogs are such demanding creatures. When I had little time for her one afternoon she decided to turn my office upside down and that included my file on the royals – I keep that since they are so useful to write about. I would now need a few slack days to put it all together again. Of course, she may have wanted to read about the royals herself since they are very into dogs too.

Storm or not, it’s been all nigh impossible to avoid local politics. I’ve a lot of respect for former Labour minister Kate Hoey – now a peer – who, according to our news pages on Jan 13 accused the secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris having "recently ramped up his bullying and efforts to blackmail the unionist community into returning to Stormont to implement the Irish Sea border and accept second class citizenship for British citizens in Northern Ireland.”

By the time I got to writing this column the whole scenario had changed with hopes that Sir Jeffrey Donaldson would be leading his tribe back to Stormont any day soon. We’re a very hopeful clan, but I’m not betting on anything yet….. there’s a dog to walk you see, with the attention seeking habit we usually associate with politicians.

With such stormy weather about, I diverted from politics to study the weather which woke me three nights in a row. Storms do fascinate me and our newspapers have been filled with what once were beautiful trees, which must have been minding their own business only to be chucked into mid-air, whacking anything in the way.

Some were classic beech which must have fallen reluctantly after decades of growth. Another breed which came a cropper in the storms were those furry types known as leylandii.

Outside my own home an elderly Monterey Cyprus moaned and groaned for the duration of the storms. But she stood the test. She even puts up annually with hoards of blackbirds and other breeds who come to nest in spring. When they’ve finished and the young have flown she seems proud to have her territory back, and we are delighted too. There’s just so much bird dirt I can tolerate, especially when some of it lands on my car.

There is sadness, however, in the loss of any growing specimen, especially those that are there by nature and not deliberately planted. The loss of a magnificent copper beech must be heart-breaking for the keen gardener. My childhood playtime was spent swinging from one of many beach trees which formed a line in our orchard. That row of trees has long gone but I have one large piece of the one which was my favourite swing. It’s not far from my desk, so my childhood playtime is a favourite memory. Trees are special but do we care for them enough?