Storm season has arrived. Once the leaves drop, you can see a tree's structure clearly, so this is the best moment to give the trees around your home a proper look. A ten-minute walk round the garden this weekend can tell you whether a tree is likely to ride out a winter gale or drop a limb on the conservatory.
1. Dead or hanging branches
Look up into the crown. Dead branches stay bare when the rest of the tree was in leaf, often with flaking bark and no buds. Watch especially for “hangers”: branches already snapped but caught in the crown. The first strong gust brings them down, and they rarely land somewhere convenient.
2. Cracks, splits and weak forks
Check the trunk and the points where big limbs meet it. Vertical cracks, splits, or a tight V-shaped fork where two stems press together are all weak points under wind load. If a crack looks fresh or wider than you remember, treat it as urgent.
3. Fungus or soft wood at the base
Mushrooms or bracket fungi on the trunk or around the roots can mean decay inside the tree, sometimes hidden behind healthy-looking bark. Also look for cavities, oozing, or wood that crumbles when pressed. Decay at the base is serious because it weakens the part holding the whole tree up.
4. A new lean or lifting soil
Many trees grow with a slight lean, and that alone isn't a problem. A lean that has appeared or worsened recently is. Look at the ground on the opposite side: cracked, raised or heaving soil suggests the roots are starting to let go. After heavy rain, waterlogged ground makes this far more likely.
5. A crown that's outgrown its space
A large, dense crown acts like a sail in high winds. If a tree now overhangs your roof, a neighbour's garden, a driveway or a road, the stakes are higher if something gives. This is where a crown reduction helps: we reduce the height and spread of the crown in a balanced way, cutting wind resistance while keeping the tree's natural shape. Late autumn and winter, when most trees are dormant, is the ideal time to do it.
Is your tree protected? Plan ahead
Across the North West, some trees are covered by a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) or stand in a Conservation Area, including parts of Hale, Bowdon and Altrincham. You can't simply prune or fell these trees when you choose:
- TPO trees need consent from the council first. Councils aim to decide within 8 weeks, and you can't start until you have consent.
- Conservation Area trees need 6 weeks' notice to the council before work starts.
- Dead trees that are protected still need at least 5 working days' written notice, unless the work is urgent because of an immediate risk of serious harm.
Working on a protected tree without the right permission can lead to prosecution. Depending on where you live, your council is Trafford (Sale, Stretford, Altrincham, Hale, Bowdon) or Cheshire East (Knutsford).
The practical upshot: if you want a protected tree reduced this winter, the application needs to go in now. Leave it until January and you could be waiting into spring, after the worst of the storms and into bird nesting season. Adam can tell you whether he thinks your tree is protected and what work to ask the council for. You make the application or give the notice yourself, and only the council can confirm whether a tree is protected.