Trees chopped down because squirrels are causing them to fall in front of drivers

Gnawing squirrels have pressured officers to cut down tons of of thriving bushes throughout a mile-long stretch of highway.

Some 750 towering beech bushes used to flank this part of the A38, a busy highway working via picturesque components of Devon and Cornwall.

However they've been decreased to barren, 4ft stumps as a result of squirrels had been chomping off branches, which then fell in entrance of drivers. 

The A38 earlier than the coppicing began in the beginning of December, lined by beech bushes

The beech bushes alongside the A38 have been coppiced after squirrels had been discovered to be gnawing branches, inflicting them to fall into the busy highway

Officers on the close by Baconnoc Property, a stately house close to Lostwithiel, Cornwall, say Highways England requested them to chop the bushes down over security fears.

However the determination has infuriated common customers of the highway, who described their actions as 'legalised vandalism' of 'stunning tree specimens'.

Sue Downey, 65, of Truro, Cornwall, mentioned: 'As a tree lover I discovered it a surprising sight, mutilated beeches. I practically crashed the automotive as a result of the sight was so insufferable I needed to maintain wanting away.

'I consider these bushes are too mature and established to provide any important re-growth. Cornwall can't afford to lose such stunning tree specimens - we have to deliver again the beech.' 

The mile-long stretch was coppiced from December, however the determination by Highways England has outraged individuals in Cornwall

One lady mentioned she had practically crashed her automotive as a result of the sight of the bushes had shocked her a lot

Libby Pidcock, 67, of Bodmin, added: 'I'm appalled, it appears to be like just like the bushes have been vandalised, they seem like jagged enamel.'

Barbara Atyeo, 74, from St Austell, mentioned: 'That is legalised vandalism. Bushes are valuable and whereas accepting necessity for security absolutely they may have been pruned extra sympathetically?'

Locals have been assured that inside two years, the road of stumped trunks will flip right into a hedge. 

David Henzell, 54, from Penzance, described the felling as brutal however added: 'There might be a good looking beech hedge there in a yr or two.'

Annette Robinson, 55, from St Austell, got here to the defence of the tree cutters.

She mentioned: 'We had been driving alongside there a couple of weeks in the past and a squirrel dropped proper out of a department and landed within the highway in entrance of us.

'Funnily sufficient the identical factor occurred to my son on his driving check and prompted him to brake sharply. Evidently he failed his check.

'Is there an abundance of squirrels on this a part of Cornwall intent on inflicting havoc?' 

The squirrels had been mentioned to be gnawing the branches a lot they had been dropping off, which was inflicting a hazard to motorists

The choice to coppice them was made by Highways England, and the bushes will now be maintained as a 'excessive beech hedge'

Richard Morris, a Savills property agent talking on behalf of the Baconnoc property, mentioned: 'The overgrown beech hedging alongside the Glynn Valley has grow to be harmful because of squirrel injury inflicting bushes to drop branches onto the A38.

'On the request of the Highways Company we now have coppiced the bushes which can now be maintained as a excessive beech hedge sooner or later.'

The bushes, between Bodmin and Dobwalls in Cornwall, had been reduce down at the beginning of December by members of the Baconnoc property, which includes a 750-year-old stately house the place Charles I hid throughout the English Civil Conflict.

The Forestry Fee declare squirrel injury to bushes in Cornwall is turning into a problem. The animals strip the bark to be able to entry sweet-tasting sap beneath, which might weaken the tree and case components of it to fall off.

Britain's 5 million gray squirrels are thought to trigger as much as £10million price of harm to woodlands yearly.

In October 2014 Prince Charles name for a cull of the invasive species, initially from North America, in a bid to attempt to defend the crimson selection.

A Highways England spokesman mentioned they didn't inform the property to fell the bushes - however all third occasion house owners alongside the highway had been suggested that 'sure bushes wanted consideration'.

He mentioned: 'As a result of the highway works we had been finishing up meant in a single day closures, there was a possibility for them to do it.

'It's the duty of the Boconnoc Property to supervise how the work was carried out. It's for security causes and we'd solely advise them.' 

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