There was untill three weeks ago a beautiful silver birch growing in a corner of the yard of a neighbour's house. Don't ask me why, as it was a joy to see and doing no harm to anybody, but he has pollarded it, cutting off the top and the branches and leaving the bare tall trunk like a mutilated arm. It makes me want to cry - if he wanted to get rid of it, why not cut the whole thing right down? There's so little left, only a couple of twigs, I don't think it will ever regrow or recover.