Streetside
I started measuring the trees outside my flat in the spring of 2023, mostly to settle an argument about whether the plane trees were older than the terrace. They are not. I kept measuring anyway.
91 trees 14 species surveyed 3× a year last visit 12 Aug 2026
The only ginkgo on the road and, judging by the kerb repair around its base, planted a good deal later than its neighbours. Girth up 3 cm on the March reading, which is more than anything else managed this year.
Leaves still fully green on this visit. In 2025 the turn came on 4 November and the whole tree dropped inside four days, which the council street sweeper described to me, at some length, as inconsiderate.
The largest tree in the survey and the reason it exists. Bark shedding heavily along the south face; the pale patches underneath are the cleanest I have recorded, which I take to mean the tree is doing exactly what it should.
Two lower limbs were taken off in February after the storm. The cuts have sealed well. Crown looks thinner from the pavement but no worse from across the road, so I suspect the difference is mine rather than the tree's.
Papery seed capsules already forming, three weeks earlier than last year. Replaced a dead cherry in 2019 and has never quite caught up with the trees on either side, though it is no longer obviously the runt.
Someone has chained a bicycle frame to it, minus both wheels, since at least March. The bark shows no damage yet.
Buds breaking on the upper third only; the lower branches were still bare on this visit and stayed that way for another fortnight. The same pattern has shown up every spring since I started, so I have stopped worrying about it.
Felled some time between the November and March visits. No notice went up on the pole, and the stump has been ground out level with the pavement, so I have no cause of death to record. Ring count from a photograph gives twenty-six, give or take.
The pit has been left open. Whatever goes in next will be no. 092.
Girth is measured at 1.3 m above the pavement with a fabric tape, which is what the standard asks for and is also as high as I can reach without looking odd. Where the pavement slopes I measure from the uphill side and note it.
Heights are estimated from a phone clinometer and should be treated as approximate. Anything past about 15 m is a guess with a decimal point on it.
Visits are in March, August and November. Trees are numbered from the junction outward, odd numbers on the west side. Numbers are not reused when a tree is removed, which is why the count and the highest number no longer agree.
Identifications are mine and occasionally wrong. Three of the limes are probably hybrids and I have not bothered to work out which. Corrections are welcome and have twice been deserved.