Storm Arwen: Thousands of tonnes of felled timber shipped out of Berwick

Tens of thousands of tonnes of timber felled by Storm Arwen are being shipped to Belgium from north-east England.

Thousands of trees were brought down across the county by winds of up to 98mph in November last year.

Many are cracked and stained and only usable as chipboard or as biomass fuel but need to be cleared.

Hendrik van Boeckel, from Berwick, who has begun removing and transporting the logs, said he was "just sending out peanuts".

He said: "There's a million-and-a-half tonnes came down and we're just shipping out a tiny amount in a very small boat."

Other companies, including sawmills and a local biomass plant, were "doing their bit" to clear and process fallen timber, he said.

The trees are being shipped out of Tweed Dock at the Port of Berwick in loads of about 1,400 tonnes, twice a month for at least two years.

Mr van Boeckel, whose father is a timber merchant in Holland, said that was why "it is so much easier for me than possibly somebody else".

He said: "I'm born and bred with timber back in Holland."

The 39-year-old, who organises game shoots, approached landowner friends in Northumberland who needed fallen timber removed before standing trees could be felled.

"It has to be cleared and it still has a bit of value for the estate," he said.

He said too much came down during the storm for local sawmills to process, which is why he transported it to Belgium.

The scale of trees felled by the storm has been attributed in part to the wind's direction.

Woodland grows to withstand England's prevailing south-westerly wind but, unusually, Arwen came from the north east.

A government report this week on the storm's effect recommended replanting with diverse and more resilient species.

Sir William Worsley, who chairs the Forestry Commission, said the loss across England was "not hugely significant" but it was about twice the North East's annual production.

"In that part of the world it was really very serious," he said.

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