First Time Farmer - Issue

Call in the special branch.

ah lads stop 😀

I would go with Option 3

3) leave it be now. You said your piece. What is done is done. Secure your gates with locks.

It was cheeky as ****. But not worth getting all bent up.

Put, a lock on your gate, and forget it, don't be making solicitors wealthy, over the tree. If it was up on the ditch it's hard to say. Of course he should have asked to enter your land.

You learned a lesson for the price of a tree. Lock the gate and don't have anything to do with him. If an animal of yours breaks in to his land next year, you'll feel like a right diiick won't you. Let it go....

Once the tree falls onto your land it's yours. No matter who owns the boundary hedge. Abit like branch's over hanging into a garden you have the right to cut them. That was always my understanding.

"Abit like branch's over hanging into a garden you have the right to cut them."

But you don't have the right to keep them.

Put a lock on the gate, forget about the tree. Have a wee word with tenant and remind him that liberties have been taken and that they are not to be taken again.

For you own peace of mind figure out who owns what boundary hedges around your farm.

A neighbour of mine has a 10 acre field and all he owns is the boundary on the road side which is actually the shortest.

I was always told that if there’s a drain on the bountry that which ever side has the drain dug out on owns the hedge as the clay that came out of the drain belongs to that side. If I was in your situation just lock all gates and do a regular check to make sure all gates are being kept locked. And if that didn’t satisfy you I would just get a letter for a solicitor sent to anyone that has over stepped the mark and lay it out any more trespassing and theft will be prosecuted too the full extend.

Yeah I think the OP has got very good advise here. If they are now not concerned about the timber itself but someone entering their land then put a lock on the gate and secure the entrance. Welcome to country life, issues with people entering property will exist be it shooting/hunting etc...first step is always lock up and take it from there.

it’s quite common. A tree falls in a storm and the “special branch” ( excuse the pun) are out removing the tree as good citizens .
we’ve had forestry contractors accidentally taking ash trees down in our family land and then magically they end up on the forestry side .
Trees fallen on your land is yours . No right of entry for anyone .

What we're you asking for our advice so then for. Work Away

This is what I've been told, basically in the past a farmer wanted to create boundary, so they dig drain and piles soil on their own land as close to boundary as possible, plants hedge in the piled soil, therefore the soil the hedge is growing from belongs to the same side as the drain as does the trees and bushes. I've been shown a case law ruling about it in the past but can't remember it now.

It basically comes down to whichever side has the drain/gripe (whatever you want to call it) owns the boundary hedge and therefore the tree, this means they would also be responsible for maintaining the boundary so I'd thread carefully, you don't want to win the battle by getting the tree back, and lose the war by having to spend money fully stockproffing a boundary which is ususlly done on an adhoc as needed basis between neighbours.

I don't think a surveyor will be helpful, land registry maps and deeds are nowhere near acurate enough to measure down to the individual tree level due to the scale of the map, especially in rural areas, for a surveyer in a practical sense it will be a case of looking at a boundary line on the map then looking at the line the hedge takes on the ground, and measuring from a known point like a building or crossroads and if its roughl accurate (a foot or two) saying that looks pretty good, it's not likely an established hedge will have moved recently.

If you are going down the solicitor route as mentioned, bring pictures of the area, the drain, the hedge, the locastion where the tree stood and fell, the route the farmer took accross your land so they can get a feel for the lie of the land without a visit.

Before going down the solicitor route, remember what happened to Moss Moore

He sounds like a bolix. Put your foot down now. It will stop him in the future doing similar. Cant understand why ppl are basically saying just leave it. Feck him. Id be around straight away making sure he knew about it.