Milton - North End (Oxfordshire)

Giant Redwood - May 2023		Giant Redwood - May 2023
John wrote to tell us about his Giant Redwood in Milton. He wrote; "It was last measured at 26 metres tall in 2013. People seem very worried it will fall down. What is the chance of this? An arborist has said it is healthy." Thank you for letting me add your tree to the website. It must be marvellous to have a view of such a fine specimen from your bedroom window. Thank you for the photographs, and as you found it is often very difficult to get the whole of a large tree in the picture! With regard to your query, I can say that I have never heard of a Giant Redwood just falling over. They can be susceptible to lightning, being so tall, but that can be a plus point, as it is preferable to lightning finding another path to the ground via someone's house! You might like to read "The Fallen" page on the website which shows a picture of a large garden in Kent after The Great Storm of 1987, you can see the Giant Redwood that remains standing amongst the carnage of the surrounding fallen non-Redwood trees. On that page you can also see what can happen in a lightning strike although lightning strikes of that magnitude are rare, normally it's just the top of the tree that is singed away. The latter may have already happened to your tree, as it appears to have several leaders. The bottom-most picture on that page shows a Giant Redwood tree fairly near me that suffered a huge strike some eighteen years ago. Luckily the Parish Council decided not to remove it after the strike (against an aborist advice - perhaps he wanted the work?!) and there are pictures of its subsequent recovery on this page - Purleigh - All Saints Church (Essex) I hope some of this might set peoples' minds at rest. Enjoy your tree!
Giant Redwood - August 2013	Giant Redwood - November 2017	Giant Redwood - December 2017	Giant Redwood - March2020