Police probe after trees 'poisoned' near Poole Harbour

A row of trees, pictured here in 2019, separates Whitecliff Road from the park and harbour

The apparent poisoning of mature trees overlooking the sea has prompted a police investigation.

Drill holes have been found in two dead oaks and a pine in parks on the edge of Poole Harbour in Dorset.

Locals said it may have been done to improve views, and described the prospect of anyone deliberately killing the trees as "alarming".

Dorset Police said it was investigating "criminal damage to trees by poisoning them" but no arrests had been made.

A Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council spokeswoman confirmed that a pine in Baiter Park and two oaks at Whitecliff Harbourside Park near Parkstone Bay had died.

"On close inspection it is apparent that the trees have had holes drilled in their trunks, possibly for the purpose of introducing a toxic substance with the intention of causing its destruction," she said.

Whitecliff Harbourside Park boasts views across the Parkstone Bay area of Poole Harbour

John Challinor, of the Parkstone Bay Association, said: "I think it's alarming that somebody might just go out and kill trees to improve their sight line.

"I think it's pretty disgusting if somebody has done that. One of the reasons people love the area is because of all the trees.

"It may be that they were already dead or diseased or dying but I'm struggling to know why people would be drilling holes in a dead or dying tree."

Previously, some homeowners and developers in nearby Sandbanks have been convicted for chopping back or destroying protected trees to improve light, views or to make way for new homes.

In 2017, tests revealed very high levels of the herbicide glyphosate in pines that had been drilled in West Cliff Green, Bournemouth.

And in 2010, intruders chopped down a Scots pine in a garden in Parkstone in the middle of the night.

Mr Challinor said he hoped the council would consider replanting in areas where trees had been attacked.