Sycamore gap tree felled - Words Fail Me

[paulw123]

Very clean fell to be fair. Professional job with a long bar chainsaw.
Utter scum though. I'd like to see similar trees listed like buildings.

[Eric Mc]

Being discussed on Radio 4 news right now.

[LimaDelta]

Eric Mc said:

TimJMS said:

Castrol for a knave said:

We can always plant a new tree in the big hole Eric has been digging for himself.

??

Who's counting - I'm not.

Sycamores grow quite quickly.

Eric, you are obviously missing the significance of this particular tree. This tree was loved and visited my many thousands every year (maybe hundreds of thousands). I was taken there as a child by my parents, and I took my children there a number of times. They will not be able to take their children to visit. It is special as it is visible from a great distance, in a natural cut in the wall ridge, and the only tree of its age and size in the area. This news would have been sad enough were it taken down by a storm, but the fact that it was a deliberate act of vandalism, with no obvious cause or gain for the perpetrator makes it all the worse.

[sanguinary]

LimaDelta said:

Eric, you are obviously missing the significance of this particular tree. This tree was loved and visited my many thousands every year (maybe hundreds of thousands). I was taken there as a child by my parents, and I took my children there a number of times. They will not be able to take their children to visit. It is special as it is visible from a great distance, in a natural cut in the wall ridge, and the only tree of its age and size in the area. This news would have been sad enough were it taken down by a storm, but the fact that it was a deliberate act of vandalism, with no obvious cause or gain for the perpetrator makes it all the worse.

100% this ^^^^

[Eric Mc]

Yes - I can see that.

It is sad. But it wasn't that well known outside the local area or those who have an affinity for the area.

It was new to me - and I'm sure many others too. I hope they do find out who did do this.

[Murph7355]

Eric Mc said:

Who's counting - I'm not.

Sycamores grow quite quickly.

300yr old ones don't.

tttish act of vandalism that should be punished severely like all tttish acts of vandalism. It's not just the damaged article itself that should be punished, but the utter disrespect and disdain for something that is not your property.

(if you wanted to keep your apple tree and some random cock socket chopped it down overnight, I imagine you'd feel quite differently).

[Random Account No6]

paulw123 said:

Very clean fell to be fair. Professional job with a long bar chainsaw.
Utter scum though. I'd like to see similar trees listed like buildings.

The was my point earlier - not just some Nigel with an Aldi special.

[ChevronB19]

Eric Mc said:

Yes - I can see that.

It is sad. But it wasn't that well known outside the local area or those who have an affinity for the area.

It was new to me - and I'm sure many others too. I hope they do find out who did do this.

That *almost* sounds like an apology for your complete lack of understanding as to the iconic nature of the site. Almost.

[BikeBikeBIke]

ChevronB19 said:

That *almost* sounds like an apology for your complete lack of understanding as to the iconic nature of the site. Almost.

It's a local landmark that was in Robin Hood.

I don't think being unaware of it is especially sinful, nor is asking it's significance.

[eharding]

Random Account No6 said:

paulw123 said:

Very clean fell to be fair. Professional job with a long bar chainsaw.
Utter scum though. I'd like to see similar trees listed like buildings.

The was my point earlier - not just some Nigel with an Aldi special.

But as has also been noted, the job undertaken in conditions that a professional would be unlikely to want to be involved in. Unless the money was *very* good.

[Killboy]

Vanden Saab said:

Was it planted by someone involved in the slave trade?

Incredible.

[Random Account No6]

eharding said:

Random Account No6 said:

paulw123 said:

Very clean fell to be fair. Professional job with a long bar chainsaw.
Utter scum though. I'd like to see similar trees listed like buildings.

The was my point earlier - not just some Nigel with an Aldi special.

But as has also been noted, the job undertaken in conditions that a professional would be unlikely to want to be involved in. Unless the money was *very* good.

Surprised whoever did it didn't chainsaw off their massive bks by mistake tbh, must have got in the way.

[RicksAlfas]

What a stty thing to do. What's wrong with people?
It's a great shame as it's a lovely spot. I was only there last month.

[Somewhatfoolish]

sanguinary said:

Not a headline I expected to see today. Utter scummy thing to do. I'm pretty sure much of Whin Sill is under National Trust ownership / care. Felling the tree won't allow better access to anywhere, so I'd be surprised if it's a begrudged farmer. People will still flock to that part of the wall anyway, as it's accessible and opposite the Sill Visitor Centre and a decent pub, so footfall won't be reduced because of this.

Someone's gone to a lot of effort to do this and for what appears to be no gain, just pure vandalism.

It just doesn't make any sense at all. Almost all crimes you can at least understand why they did it.

I would like to hope this is a massive misunderstanding but I don't see how - anyone even vaguely local would know about it.

I do think the publicity means they're not gonna get away with it so we will find out.

[LimaDelta]

To be fair, it is more than just a 'local landmark'. I've met people from all over the world at that site. Just have a look on Google images at the sheer volume of photos, paintings, and other artworks of the tree. So many people have been inspired by it, not just those local to the area.

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=569142147&am...

[Pupp]

king arthur said:

Why? What would they gain from doing such a thing?

Would be interested to know what the perpetrator could be charged with should they ever be caught.

Criminal damage if not their property and done without the sanction of its owner.

[eharding]

Mr Whippy said:

It’s a bit disingenuous to make out trees are alive and special, but some a lot more so than others.

Then ignore the plight of all the trees and biospheres that are treated like crap for our own benefits.



Which is it?

Do you respect the natural world or not?

Or is this all just about shallow human materialism, saying this tree is important because we like to take pictures of it… but any other tree just gets ignored?



Who gives a fk about what humans want?

This tree likely self seeded at a time when humans weren’t such shallow plonkers.

If you care about the tree, then go care about all trees!

It's an interesting point - there is apparently evidence that there was a much more substantial group of trees on the site, but that at some stage all of the others were felled - with the possibility that was done so in the knowledge that leaving the sole survivor would make for a rather stunning and noteworthy landmark. A bit tough on the other trees of course.

[x5tuu]

bstb3 said:

Niponeoff said:

So how far is that tree from the road? Takes a bit of doing to chop that down and the equipment for it.

Its really accessible, there's a car park nearby and it's an easy walk to where it was along the Hadrians wall footpath. My initial though was landowner pissed at the tourism it causes, but remembering where it is (I've been there many years back) that doesn't stack up. It's not like it's causing a lot of traffic through a farm or something.



It's just going to be some semi pissed tt out for likes on a social media group or something I expect. The fact they knew what they were doing and had the tools isn't that unusual in the area.

From The Sill (Youth Hostel, reasonably recently built) to the location of the tree, its about a 20min walk - from the car park near the gap its barely 10mins.

[eharding]

essayer said:

It’ll grow back, I guess

[Eric Mc]

ChevronB19 said:

Eric Mc said:

Yes - I can see that.

It is sad. But it wasn't that well known outside the local area or those who have an affinity for the area.

It was new to me - and I'm sure many others too. I hope they do find out who did do this.

That *almost* sounds like an apology for your complete lack of understanding as to the iconic nature of the site. Almost.

Well, I wasn't aware of its iconic stature - so 100% guilty on that count.