Two trees in my neighbours garden. They block the light so when I was going through my tree surgery phase I offered to chop them down. Fortunately, the trees have sentimental value for my neighbours, who refused my offer, otherwise I'd probably have broken my neck. They are extremely tall (probably more than twice the height of my two storey house) and have a complete absence of reliable branches.
During Storm Doris they were bowing down like oriental courtiers being introduced to the emperor. I thought they would quite likely collapse and destroy my kitchen, but it didn't happen.
Today I observed (heard rather than saw) a blackbird somewhere close to the end of my garden, probably in one of the trees. I love blackbirds and when I was a teenager I used to copy their song in a whistle, adding a phrase of my own at the end.
Sometimes the blackbirds then copied me.
It was quite remarkable really because I was no sort of whistler. My mother called my efforts tuneless. Perhaps that's what the blackbirds liked? Anyway to get back to Chatham, there used to be a blackbirds nest in one of my neighbour's trees but one of the neighbourhood cats had a habit of killing the fledglings. I thought the blackbirds would never come back, but there they are making a beautiful song today.