Silver birch trees
 

You may recall that, last year, in the 'Hay Fever' thread I had to move house to get away from a plantation of silver birch trees.

I am alarmed to see that birch trees are included in the list of species to be planted at the Spout House wood community woodland development.

£28k project for community woodland begins in Hyndburn (From Lancashire Telegraph)

The health problems caused by birch pollen have at last been recognised in Christchurch NZealand.

High demand for ChCh birch removal - Story - NZ News - 3 News

Birch trees now asthma villains | Stuff.co.nz

I will be unable to attend the meeting at the Griffin on Thursday about this woodland development because I am still having breathing problems resulting from the lung inflammation the trees caused me last year.

If anyone reading this is going, please raise the silver birch problem. I have mailed the local gov officer mentioned in that ET news article. Last year I contacted LCC about it but was fobbed off.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

my niece and nephew know what to do with silver birch tree's ;-)

Re: Silver birch trees
 

I have had a response to one of my emails, requesting more detail - so they might take notice and not plant any more birch trees.

If you have an asthmatic child who attends Hippings Primary school on Heron Way, you may be wise to keep your child off school during the several weeks when the trees are full of catkins.

Several months ago I mailed the headmistress about the risks to such children - she didn't reply.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

That was very rude of the head teacher. If you read the Telegraph story you linked to in mentions the Officer at Hyndburn who is working on the project. Have you emailed her? first name . last name @hyndburnbc.gov.uk is the usual email address format at HBC

Re: Silver birch trees
 

She is the one who has responded.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

I expected she would. Is she looking into your concerns?

Re: Silver birch trees
 

I hope so.
The public meeting at the Griffin is tonight - hope silver birch trees get a mention.

At least I haven't been 'fobbed off' like that LCC chap did last year.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

did they get mentioned?

Any more info about the risk of silver Birch tree's?

Re: Silver birch trees
 

No news yet.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

that's very unfortunate. There must be a way to counter its effects?

online casino spielen

Re: Silver birch trees
 

What about drinking the sap - it's meant to be healthy for you? :D

Tapping the Birch Tree for Sap in March - Collecting Birch Sap a clean sugar rich water - Wild Food - Natural Bushcraft - The True Spirit of Bushcraft

From Wikipedia:

Birch sap is the sap extracted from a birch tree, such as a North American Sweet Birch or a Silver Birch. The sap is often a slightly sweet, thin syrupy-watery liquid. The tree sap contains sugars (namely xylitol), proteins, amino acids, and enzymes.
Birch sap must be collected during a specific time of the year, depending on the species and geography, at the break of winter and spring when the sap moves intensively, typically between the first thaws and the start of bud development. The collected sap can be drunk as a tonic and it is a traditional beverage in Russia (Russian: берёзовый сок / byeryozovyi sok), Latvia (Latvian: bērzu sula), Estonia (Estonian: kasemahl), Finland (Finnish: koivun mahla), Lithuania (Lithuanian: Beržų Sula), Belarus (Belarusian: Бярозавы сок / biarozavy sok, Byarozavik), Poland (Polish: Sok z Brzozy), Ukraine (Ukrainian: Березовий сік / berezovyi sik) and elsewhere in Northern Europe as well as parts of northern China.
Birch sap collection is done by tying a bottle to the tree, drilling a hole into its trunk and leading the sap to the bottle by a plastic tube. A small birch (trunk diameter about 15 cm) can produce up to 5 liters of sap per day, a larger tree (diameter 30 cm) up to 15 liters per day. Birch sap has to be collected in early spring before any green leaves have appeared, as in late spring it becomes bitter. The collection period is only about a month per year. The price of birch sap is correspondingly high in some countries, e.g. in Japan reaching up to 50 Euro per liter.
Birch sap may be consumed both fresh and naturally fermented.

Silver birch trees
 

It's Saturday, and Kest' has recovered from last weekends drug induced weekend ready to start again.
How generous that he takes time off from his dreams to share a little of his nightmares.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

It might be healthy for some, but for those who have breathing problems which are made worse by birch pollen it cetainly does nothing to enhance their well being.
It gives me terrible hay fever......my eyes stream, my throat is sore and my nose runs like a tap. I know exactly when the birch trees are shedding their pollen....my health pays.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

Consider a few lines or PM to Mayor Judith Addison and speaking with the Observer and Telegraph. An email copied to both might give your concerns a wider hearing.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

I was talking with someone involved recently and I think they will be planting the trees very soon if they haven't already.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

Hi Margaret, I remember reading about this, but there has not been much in the news about this lately. My family personally do not suffer from asthma etc, so do not take much care in the details. There have been reports in the local media of some very serious cases on the effects of silver birch trees. If I remember correctly, there are 2 types of tree, one which is dangerous and one which is not. Should I see anything in the media in the future, I can notify you if you wish. There have been reports of birch trees being felled.
David

Re: Silver birch trees
 

Thank you for responding to my PM.
I don't seem to get any persons responsible for trees here to take any notice of the health hazard they cause.
Their pollen season is due to start here in about two weeks.
Maybe it will take a death before they do.
That poor woman who died in Christchurch NZ was about my age.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

silver birch are easy to cut down.
I took 2 down this week with a bow saw.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

I didn't know about silver birch causing these problems -there are quite a lot round where I live. During the pollen season I have to double up my asthma medication and always put it down to the poplar trees which are heavily planted in the north of Italy -this has made me think again! My son also suffers very badly with hay-fever every year. Allergy related problems are a growing problem but I would hate to see trees being chopped down...

Re: Silver birch trees
 

The birch pollen season has started this weekend
Pollen count forecast for the UK - Netweather.tv

It causes reaction more than other tree pollen because it is microscopically small and requires a Hepa filter to remove it.

Re: Silver birch trees
 

Hi Margaret

I'm the LT reporter who wrote the original story. I noticed you already commented below the story on our website.

What you have said raises several interesting questions, and I'd like to run a follow up story.

Could you please email me some contact details to michael [dot] morrison [at] nqnw [dot] co [dot] uk ?