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'Petty' neighbor chops tree in half in noisy bird dispute - New York Post

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If half a tree falls in the UK, do the birds make a sound?

The answer for one Sheffield resident, they’d hoped, was no — as they took matters into their own hands to deal with a noisy bird issue stemming from a tree that sits astride their own and their next-door neighbor’s property line.

Now, the awkwardly severed tree has become a local “tourist attraction” in South Yorkshire county — but the family left with only half a tree said they are “gutted” over the dispute.

“We were absolutely distraught,” said Bharat Mistry, 56, now the owner of a lopsided 16-foot fir tree in his front yard. “We pleaded and pleaded with them not to do it, but their mind was made up. That tree was coming down.”

Mistry told South West News Service that he has been mired in a quarrel with his neighbors, Graham and Irene Lee, for about a year over the cacophonous birds that made their home in the shared fir tree.

fir tree severed in half
A pair of “petty” neighbors in Sheffield, UK, took to lopping off half a tree when they claimed that noisy birds were causing a ruckus over their driveway.
Matthew Lofthouse / SWNS

Attempts to cut back the tree to discourage birds from congregating weren’t enough to satisfy the Lees, who declined to comment to SWNS. Sick of alleged noise and mess caused by the roosting birds — “which you would expect at this time of the year,” Mistry said — they insisted that the tree must come down.

fir tree severed in half
The Mistry family, left with only half a tree, said they were “gutted” over the loss.
Matthew Lofthouse / SWNS
fir tree cut in ball shape
Sheffield resident Bharat Mistry insisted the 16-foot fir tree hung over their neighbors’ property by only about 3 feet.
Bharat Mistry / SWNS

“We’d trimmed it into a ball shape with agreement with the neighbor, and he has been fine about it,” Mistry explained. “We had asked if we could get it trimmed back and put a net in it so it would stop birds getting in, but there was no compromise with them.”

Despite his best efforts to persuade the Lees, Mistry conceded it was their property to manage. So last weekend the neighbors told tree surgeons to cut off the branches over their driveway.

“It has been there for 25 years,” Mistry said. “I believe he has the right to cut down anything that is overhanging onto his property. But you have to ask: Why, after 25 years, would you do that?”

What remains — a tree whose crown is sliced perfectly in half vertically — has become a meme for “traditional British pettiness” online, according to SWNS. An image circulating online of the asymmetrical fir has since appeared on UK television.

The Mistry family said their arboreal aberration has made them “Instagram famous without meaning to.”

fir tree severed in half
An image of the lopsided tree has since become infamous online as an example of “traditional British pettiness.”
Matthew Lofthouse / SWNS

They’re saddened not only at losing half a tree, but also a family they once called friends.

“We have never had any issues with them before this — we got on fine,” Mistry said of the Lees. “Our children would play with their grandchildren when they were younger; we’ve always got on.”

An unidentified resident of the community told the Guardian that she sympathized with the Mistrys. “When I saw it, I just thought, ‘Oh my God, what a shame,'” the woman said. “It’s a lovely tree and adds to the feature of the house and the street.”

Another anonymous local who spoke to the agency added, “It ruins the visual aspect for everyone.”

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'Petty' neighbor chops tree in half in noisy bird dispute - New York Post
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