After Arwen: how to think positive about the UK’s storm-devastated trees

The winds in November brought down millions of trees but unlike after the great storm of 1987, there is no rush to clear them all away

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Storm Arwen came hurtling down from the north at the end of November, causing a tsunami of trees to crash to the ground across Scotland, northern England and parts of Wales. Winds of 100mph flattened conifer plantations like dominoes; large country houses lost 250-year-old oaks; and gardeners grieved for uprooted magnolias and rhododendrons.

Three people died and more than 9,000 were left without power for more than a week in bitterly cold weather. Phones were down, roads were blocked and people had trees coming through their roofs. You weren't going anywhere," remembers Heather Swift, the Woodland Trust's Cumbria site manager, who has been assessing the tree damage in the area.