We have grown used to weather forecasts becoming increasingly scaremongering but if the storm forecast for Sunday night/Monday morning is as severe as feared, and its trajectory hits London, we could see substantial damage to one of Brent's greatest assets.
Barn Hill in Wembley Park, the remains of Humphry Repton's Wembley Park Estate planted for Richard Page in 1792, contains many fine trees. It lost a fair number of trees in the storm of 1987.
This weekend many of the trees are still in full leaf which increases the 'sail effect' when high winds hit. Isolated trees are particularly vulnerable as the full impact of the wind hits them.
I went out this morning in the Autumn sunshine to record several of the trees in case they become victims of the storm.
This pair are just about surviving at the summit of Barn Hill despite having been hollowed out by insects, woodpeckers and latterly, ring-necked parakeets. They may be saved by the lack of leaves and the fact that they have lost many of their branches already.
The avenue of Lombardy poplars which runs from close to the roundabout at Fryent Way to the pond on top of Barn Hill has looked vulnerable for some time. Planted in 1935, according to some accounts to celebrate the jubilee of King George V, they are out of keeping with the traditional English planing and so unpopular with some. However they are a local land mark, rising as they do above the other woodland, and form a crest that can be seen from miles away. Some have been lost already and others have many dead branches/
Barn Hill in Wembley Park, the remains of Humphry Repton's Wembley Park Estate planted for Richard Page in 1792, contains many fine trees. It lost a fair number of trees in the storm of 1987.
This weekend many of the trees are still in full leaf which increases the 'sail effect' when high winds hit. Isolated trees are particularly vulnerable as the full impact of the wind hits them.
I went out this morning in the Autumn sunshine to record several of the trees in case they become victims of the storm.
This pair are just about surviving at the summit of Barn Hill despite having been hollowed out by insects, woodpeckers and latterly, ring-necked parakeets. They may be saved by the lack of leaves and the fact that they have lost many of their branches already.
The avenue of Lombardy poplars which runs from close to the roundabout at Fryent Way to the pond on top of Barn Hill has looked vulnerable for some time. Planted in 1935, according to some accounts to celebrate the jubilee of King George V, they are out of keeping with the traditional English planing and so unpopular with some. However they are a local land mark, rising as they do above the other woodland, and form a crest that can be seen from miles away. Some have been lost already and others have many dead branches/
This 'lone Lombardy' was one of a pair on what local children called 'The Island' on the lower slope of Barn Hill. Its companion fell in Spring 2012 and gave the children lots of climbing fun before it was eventually sawn up by parks' staff. It and another nearby on its own 'island' are exposed and still in full leaf and therefore vulnerable to high winds. They were already getting quite a battering this morning.
All this is of course part of a natural cycle and fallen trees provide habitats for insects and small mammals, and thus food for birds and predators. They also provide space for new growth.
