A CRACKDOWN has begun after several trees in Ledbury have been mysteriously 'hacked, damaged and chopped down.' 

Herefordshire Council has received a report from a concerned resident after she claimed she saw a member of the public removing wood from trees in the woods near the local railway station. 

The authority will now be sending people to the area to ensure there is no unauthorised tree removal taking place. 

Nature lover Amber Astron-Christo, who said she had caught people hacking trees, contacted the Reporter expressing her worry about the situation and confusion as to how many people were doing this. 

She claimed that several weeks ago when walking to the train station, she found an elderly man cutting down a silver birch tree in the woods along the old railway track. 

She added when she approached him, he claimed he was cutting it for firewood and it was a 'dead tree'.

She added the man's claims were 'clearly untrue' as the wood and tree stump showed her that the tree was 'very much alive.'

She added: "He seemed organised with a powered saw and a trolley to transport the logs. 

"I saw him on two other occasions and took photographs of the damage."

Over many weeks, she has continued to see several more instances of numerous trees being chopped or parts hacked away. 

She has taken photographs showing several trees with branches cut off, others where only a tree trunk remains and, in some cases, the entire tree has been chopped down. 

She added: "I have found numerous other trees cut to the ground or with large branches chopped or hacked away. 

"In one section there is a large break in the trees where numerous small saplings and bigger trees have been removed, with a pathway leading down to some houses on the Homend side of the area.

"This is damage, it is not 'management' of the trees. 

"I would very much like to know who is doing this, is it one random man or lots of different people?"

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said: “Our Grounds Maintenance team have been made aware of a report of members of the public removing wood from this location.

"Area stewards will begin visiting to ensure no unauthorised tree removal is taking place.”