Somehow the sense of loss at the wanton felling of the Sycamore Gap tree is more profound in the spring. Certainly, that is how it feels to visitors here, particularly those laying daffodils and rosary beads at the spot where it once stood.
For it was at this time of year when the mighty sentinel beside Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland was always at its resplendent best, with its glossy emerald leaves.
‘When the tree was in its glory, it felt a very special place, kind of mystical,’ says hiker Dee McGonagle, who like many others felt its destruction as a bereavement. Above, the drizzly grey sky suddenly brightens, making the void left by the famous landmark appear more conspicuous.
But beside memories, the mystery of what happened here in the middle of that stormy night last September dominates thoughts.
Six months on, the question remains unanswered: Who took a chainsaw to the 150-year-old tree, this great symbol of the North East, and why? And why have the police yet to bring someone before a court?
In truth, the investigation has quietly gathered pace and Northumbria Police are hopeful of pressing charges soon. Two men in their 30s remain on bail.
County councillor John Riddle recently asked a senior officer about progress and says he was told it was likely that a recommendation would be made to the Crown Prosecution Service.
He said: ‘I was pleasantly surprised because, like many others, I wondered if we’d ever get to the bottom of this.’
Something else which may surprise, says a source close to the investigation, is that the suspects are not local but come from neighbouring Cumbria. According to a source: ‘The theory is that whoever is responsible wasn’t motivated by grievance but acted out of sheer childishness.’
One early theory was that the tree was felled as a social media prank.
While there is no CCTV anywhere near the spot, it is understood that police know the feller’s route to the tree – the trail from Steel Rigg car park which follows Hadrian’s Wall on a rocky rollercoaster over hills and open moorland.
Mobile phone triangulation could, it is thought, feature in any prosecution but it is unclear to what extent, if any, DNA from the tree will play a part.
Samples would yield genetic material that could then be matched with sawdust found on the clothing or machinery of any potential suspects.
But the time lapsed since the crime would appear to indicate a paucity of forensic clues.
Three years ago, tree DNA was used as evidence in the US to convict the leader of a gang of illegal loggers who cut down prized maple trees in a Washington forest.
Few in this part of Northumberland believe the mystery of Sycamore Gap will be solved quite so easily however. Still, they were heartened to learn last month that fresh shoots have emerged from the tree’s rescued seeds and from twigs taken to a ‘high-security greenhouse’ in Devon the day after it was destroyed.
Back at Sycamore Gap there is similar hope. ‘This tree stump is still alive,’ warns a sign. ‘If we leave it alone, it might sprout new growth.’
Giant 100ft tribute to fallen Sycamore Gap tree is etched onto sand to mark six months since iconic plant was felled in horrific act of vandalism
A giant 100ft tribute to the felled Sycamore Gap tree has been carved into a beach in Northumberland to mark six months since the iconic plant was chopped down by vandals.
Retired doctor and beach artist Claire Eason led a team of ten volunteers who spent six hours painstakingly etching precise lines in the sand of Bamburgh beach.
The group used garden rakes to carve the intricate design which shows the iconic tree standing proudly along Hadrian’s Wall with a carved root scene underneath.
The 11-man team arrived on the beach at dawn to begin their six-hour project and persevered despite poor weather to create the stunning artwork.
Claire, 59, said she had been inspired to start the project after feeling a ‘personal shock’ at the terrible act of destruction on September 28 last year.
The project was led by the BBC’s The One Show and completed on February 13 but the tribute has only now been revealed.
The 59-year-old said: ‘When the tree came down a lot of us had a personal shock. That prompted me to create a design. ‘The idea is that it was quite a graphic boulder design as we had a lot of volunteers who hadn’t done anything before and it made it easier.
‘After that we had an idea of doing something more inclusive than me with a community.
‘Underneath there is a route system that embraces huge boulders which shows whatever happens next for the tree, where it will sprout again.
‘It’s a suggestion of Hadrian’s wall, nothing too detailed, just bold and graphic. I gave the volunteers free control over the boulder design.
‘There were ten people. The day did change a lot because of the weather, they turned up without any hesitation. ‘It was for The One Show and it was produced by a local company called Signpost Productions.
‘We arrived at dawn on the beach and the film crew were there. The light was beautiful. There’s a lot of repetition for filming.
‘The whole thing took a good six hours. The extra hour was waiting for the tide to come in.’
Retired doctor Claire created the design on a computer before using a giant grid system to accurately transfer the artwork to the sand.
She carved the tree herself while the team of volunteers carved the boulder and root section.
She said: ‘I didn’t want to over complicate the design as the result needs to be crisp. It’s an inclusive design.
‘Everyone rakes in a slightly different way so they all do different lines. It was 100ft long by 50ft wide. It’s definitely one of the biggest.
‘It was to tie in with the anniversary and it also happens to be in spring which is a time of renewal.’
Reference ~ several articles from The Daily Mail from 7/4/24.
When you plant a forest or woodland, you are making a huge contribution to the environment. Woodlands and the long term products created from forests and woodlands store CO2. It’s really important to remember, you always own the trees and the land.
Planting a forest is extremely rewarding. When you consider planting a forest, Green Belt and our team of professional foresters will guide you through the full application process through to establishment and through the lifecycle. Considering forestry is an important life choice and there are many positive benefits and gains to be made – the obvious financial gains, of course whereby there is a full grant to cover the establishment costs. Additionally, there is an annual premium, paid to you as landowner, directly, for 20 years as a farmer (15 years for non-farmers).
The annual premium is available for the forest owner for 20 years, and valued up to €1,103 per hectare depending on the species selected – important to remember we plant The Right Tree in the Right Place, for the Right Reasons. Green Belt works with the forest owners (you!) throughout the lifecycle of the plantation and we advise on all aspects of forestry estate management. Our focus is on managing the plantation to fulfill its potential – for some it’s financial, for others it’s an amenity. Regardless, each forest is important and adds so much to the local community and the private estate in Ireland.
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James Cameron who created ‘The Avatar’ movie knew it.
“Mycelium, or mycorrysis, is a fungus that expands underground creating a network of connection between all plant species, something like the internet, that allows them not only to communicate, but also to take care of themselves, protect themselves, feed themselves and stock up on water.
When a tree from the forest is cut down, this mycelium communicates to many trees in the forest that one of them is dying and all the other trees through the mycelium begin to care for the remaining trunk to try to save that life. They feed it water it protect it because that dying log is part of the forest family.
Everything has a language It’s the universal language.
We learn to reconnect with this non-verbal language, understanding that we are all part of the same thing. We are neither superior nor inferior We are like children who still have a lot to learn from our elders, from the trees and the forest and above all from Our Mother Earth”.
Giant redwoods – the world’s largest trees – are flourishing in the UK and now even outnumber those found in their native range in California.
The giants were first brought to the UK about 160 years ago, and a new study suggests they are growing at a similar rate to their US counterparts.
An estimated 500,000 trees are in the UK compared to 80,000 in California.
However they aren’t yet as tall. In California they can reach 90m-high, but in the UK the tallest is 54.87m.
But that’s because the introduced trees are still very young. Giant redwoods can live for more than 2,000 years, so there’s still plenty of time for the UK’s trees to catch up
“Half a million trees is quite a lot to go under the radar until now, but it’s when you start looking for them in the landscape, and compiling these datasets, that you realise how many there are,” said Dr Phil Wilkes, one of the authors of the study, from Kew’s botanic garden at Wakehurst in Sussex.
Giant redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum) were first brought to the UK by the Victorians. They were the ultimate botanical status symbol, typically planted in the grand estates of the wealthy.
Today, some form sweeping avenues while others stand in ones or twos. But they’re easy to spot: their dense, cone-shaped crowns stand proud of everything around them.
To assess how these towering giants are adapting to their UK home, scientists selected a sample of nearly 5,000 trees to study at Wakehurst, Benmore Botanic Garden in Scotland and Havering Country Park in Essex.
They used laser scanners to measure the heights and volumes of some of the trees – it’s also a way to weigh the trees without cutting them down.
The researchers found that the trees were growing about as fast as the giant redwoods in their native home in the mountains of Sierra Nevada. The UK climate seems to suit them, says Dr Wilkes.
“Where they grow in California, it’s cooler and moister than you would typically envisage California to be,” he explained.
“And we have a reasonably similar climate here – it’s very wet and they need the moisture to grow.”
The scientists also looked at how much carbon dioxide the trees were absorbing – trees soak up and store the greenhouse gas and planting more trees can play a role in helping to tackle climate change.
The researchers found that because of their sheer size, giant redwoods can lock up large amounts of carbon dioxide in their wood – although not as much as their US counterparts.
The trees at Wakehurst, which are about 45m tall, have about 10 to 15 tonnes of carbon stored in them, Dr Wilkes explained.
“But compare this to the largest tree in California, which has about 250 tonnes of carbon stored in it, and they’re quite small. But you know, these could get as big.”
The scientists involved in the research are quick to point out that planting forests of giant redwoods would not be enough to significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But these majestic giants can play a part in a mixed forest plantation with a variety of other trees, both native and imported.
In California, the natural wonders are under threat from climate change – they’re not faring well with hotter and drier weather and more intense wildfires.
So could the UK become their new home?
In an avenue of trees originally planted as a grand entrance to a now demolished mansion in Havering Country Park, Prof Mat Disney, from University College London, says he thinks it’s more than possible.
“In terms of climate, it’s probably the case that they’re going to have a less pressured existence here than they do in California,” he said.
Although he pointed out that conditions are also changing in the UK with climate change.
Giant redwoods are being planted as saplings all over the country, often by local authorities in public parks or recreation grounds.
Prof Disney says they have a long life ahead of them – and they won’t stay small for long.
“They’re very fast growing, and they grow large. Once they reach about 60m, they will be the tallest trees in Britain, and then they will keep on growing,” he said.
However, while the trees are doing well in the UK, there’s little chance of them taking over our native forests any time soon – they’re not reproducing here as they need very specific conditions to take seed.
The study is published in the Royal Society journal Open Science.
Conservationists are up in arms and have branded the move a “fatal development”.
Conservationists in Germany are incensed as 120,000 trees in an ancient forest have started to be felled in order to make way for a wind farm.
The forest in Sababurg, Reinhardswald, which is in the central German state of Hesse, is said to be an inspiration for the Brothers Grimm mythical tales, but now it’s being destroyed to facilitate the country’s latest green energy project.
The site of the tree-toppling is next to the famous Sleeping Beauty Castle, which takes its name due to its fairytale architecture and its proximity to the mystical forest.
However, now the castle will be in close proximity to a field of wind turbines.
The Reinhardswald forest in northern Hesse is something very special, and not only because it’s the largest in the state. One of its characteristics is that it belongs to the general public. But that could be its downfall, because the coalition state government (consisting of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Green Party) is planning to build industrial areas right in the middle of it.
The reason is the government’s ambitious goal of reserving 2% of the state’s land area for wind energy. But in Hesse, there’s only enough wind — when there’s any wind at all — at high altitudes. And since most of the high lands are wooded, almost all new wind turbines are built in forests.
Hesse’s economy minister, Tarek Al-Wazir, made a noteworthy promise in 2015: “Important recreational areas and forests in Hesse are out of the question for wind energy use.” Three years later, however, it’s not clear how much weight those words really wield. The Kassel regional council the state of Hesse is divided into three such regions has designated seven wind priority areas in the Reinhardswald. In each area up to 20 wind turbines can be built.
The Reinhardswald’s old beech forests are home to many species, but above all to strictly protected bats that only live in forests with very old trees and a high proportion of deadwood. The Kassel regional council insists that protected beech forests are “just as excluded from wind energy use as the areas of the oak primeval forest,” and that it’s considering locations that are “less sensitive from a nature conservation point of view.” And yet, the wind priority areas border directly on the natural habitats of wild fauna and flora, in which bats have found a rare refuge.
Unlike birds of prey, small birds and flying animals such as bats are not killed by the rotors. Instead, their lungs burst due to the vacuum behind the rotors. The planners have placed one of the wind priority areas exactly between the natural forest and the Friedwald, a cemetery in the forest, the first of its kind in Germany. And two wind priority areas even enclose parts of the forest that have long been designated as protected.
“It makes no sense at all,” says Niehaus-Uebel. “It’s the headlong and forced adoption of wind power in Hesse, no matter the consequences. Nature conservation no longer plays a role. And all this from an environment minister from the Green Party. That’s astonishing.”
But Hesse’s environment minister defends the plans. “Wind energy is very important for climate protection because we have to achieve the energy transition,” says Priska Hinz. “We will not conserve the forests if we do not focus on renewable energy and thus on climate protection, because otherwise we will no longer have the forests as we know them in 30 years’ time and even less in 50, 100 years.”
You could argue that forests serve to protect the climate and biodiversity. Why else would German politicians like to point out the importance of their primeval forests to their colleagues in distant or nearby countries like Poland?
“We haven’t planned to build in the entire Reinhardswald.” says Hinz. “Just in a small part. This is no way comparable to large-scale deforestation.
For nature conservationists, it’s disastrous. “The Reinhardswald is one of the last largely unexploited forest areas,” says Gabriele Niehaus-Uebel of the Oberweser-Bramwald citizens’ initiative. “We don’t have many of these anymore. This habitat must be protected as such.”
The country’s five biggest environmental associations have a similar view and, in their Wilderness in Germany initiative, included proposals for forest protection areas in Hesse. Reinhardswald tops the list. The plan is to more than double the protected surface in the Reinhardswald forest and reduce the amount and kinds of trees that can be cut so as to limit the impact on the local wildlife.
Wind energy is very important for climate protection because we have to achieve the energy transition.
Birds and Bats
A short drive a few kilometers further south, in the Kaufungen forest, gives us an example of what this means in practice. There are 18 wind turbines at the state border between Hesse and Lower Saxony in the middle of an official natural habitat of wild fauna and flora. It is also a flying route for flocks of common cranes and, partly, a drinking-water protection area. The turbines rise to more than 200 meters into the sky, and for each of them, foundations of about 1,000 cubic meters of concrete were injected into the ground.
Wind turbines of this size can only be installed with gigantic cranes that require one hectare of forest to be razed, not to mention the wide paths that need to be cleared for the transports of such heavy material and for later service transports. Between the installations, the remaining trees are largely bent. The windthrow is the result of storms caused by the clearings.
According to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Kaufung Forest is considered a “hotspot for biodiversity.” This also applies to the Reinhardswald. “As a natural area, it’s outstanding not only because of its size, but also because of its biological provision,” says Jochen Tamm, a biologist from the Hessian Society for Ornithology and Nature Conservation.
Tamm has been working in the Upper Nature Conservation Authority of the Kassel Regional Council for 20 years. He also advises citizens’ initiatives such as the one led by Gabriele Niehaus-Uebel. The definition of wind priority areas is the responsibility of regional authorities just as Kassel Regional Council and it can help limit the uncontrolled expansion of wind energy. For that, justified objections by nature conservationists are supposed to be taken into account. In practice, though, such objects seem to be increasingly ignored because they endanger the expansion targets.
Many objections concern strictly protected species whose habitat lies in the vicinity of planned wind turbines. Experts estimate that wind turbines kill hundreds of thousands of bats and thousands of birds of prey every year throughout Germany. ABO-Wind, the wind power project development company that is planning to apply for a building permit for the Reinhardswald forest, disagrees. “There’s no reliable evidence,” it says.
And yet, a “Progress Study” financed by the federal government shows that birds of prey do collide with such installations, and with disproportionate frequency. The further expansion of wind energy could endanger entire stocks, among them red kites. In fact, collisions against wind turbines is “the main cause of death for red kites,” says Torsten Langgemach of Brandenburg State’s Institute for Bird Protection. In his database, he has countless pictures of dead birds of prey sent by outraged citizens.
“The red kite is one of the few large birds that can only be found in Central Europe,” says Jochen Tamm. “Germany is home to more than half of the world’s population, so it has global responsibility for this bird. And it’s precisely in this central habitat where wind turbines are increasingly being installed now.”
Ralf Paschold, a wind energy entrepreneur, pointing at the wind farm site from the castle, told Deutsche Welle: “For the next 30 years. I will produce energy there.”
Responding to the claim that his development will destroy the natural environment, he said: “The dormouse, the bats, the birds, the small salamander. I will protect them. Because my heart is beating for them. But we can bring all these things together. It’s easy.”
However, campaigners are not convinced Mr Paschold will adequately maintain the local ecosystem.
Annette Müller-Zietzke, an occupational therapist and member of the campaign ‘Save the Reinhardswald’ told the same outlet: “Legally, this area is forest as long as all of this is here”
It was noted that visitors aren’t even allowed to pitch a tent in the forest due to the risk it poses to the habitat of the animals living there.
Miss Müller-Zietzke added that no human would willingly choose to live directly under a wind turbine.
She went on: “And then, for these species that are even more sensitive than we are, we just say, ‘It probably doesn’t matter.’ In times of probably the greatest loss of biodiversity since the extinction of the dinosaurs, this is a terrible, fatal development.”
Conflicts between the wind industry and nature conservationists aren’t happening just in the state of Hesse. More and more wind farms are being built in forests all over southern Germany. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate, for one, has been leading the way under Eveline Lemke a former Green Party minister (2011-2016) who is now on the supervisory board member of ABO-Wind.
The relative silence of climate activists regarding the destruction of the woodland in Hesse comes in stark contrast to their response over the felling of a 3km stretch of the Dannenröder forest in 2019 to make room for a highway.
Then, thousands of environmentalists vehemently opposed the plans, occupying trees and going to the courts in their bid to stop the project. They erected barricades and treehouses and violent clashes with the police ensued. Law enforcement operations at the time were said to have cost up to €36 million.
Similarly, there were strong protests against the felling of a 230-metre area of trees in the Fechenheimer forest.
The 2.7-hectare forest, which is surrounded by highways and industrial areas and already 98 per cent destroyed according to the environment ministry, was described by activists at the time as “the most species-rich forest in Frankfurt and the surrounding area”.
When wind turbines are involved, climate activists seem to bite their lips. The fact that 29 hectares of an ancient forest will be destroyed to build 14km of roads for 18 huge wind-power constructions, each with a blade diameter of 150 metres, does not seem to be an issue.
The apparent acceptance of habitat destruction in the name of wind power seems to be inspired by Berlin, which wants a transition to low-carbon energy after it ended the use of nuclear power.
For conservationist and Federal Cross of Merit recipient Hermann-Josef Rapp, the deforestation is a tragedy. He has been working in the forest since 1972, first as a forester and in retirement as an expert who has led around 1,000 guided tours. He is regarded as the “voice of the Reinhardswald”.
“It is the treasure house of European forests. An ensemble in a class of its own. You can’t sacrifice it to the greedy wind power league.” Rapp said, who is involved in the “Save the Reinhardswald” initiative.
A forensic ecologist claims she could have solved the mystery of the Sycamore Gap felling by examining a ‘halo of pollen’ around the tree to help track down vandals.
Professor Patricia Wiltshire, known as ‘Pollen Pat’ to Met detectives, has helped police in more than 300 criminal investigations since 1994, by examining soil or plant samples taken from crime scene.
Last year her services were recommended to police investigating the mystery of the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree which was chopped down in the middle of the night. But she says she wasn’t called to investigate.
Speaking to The Times, Ms Wiltshire said she could have traced the culprit in this case and said: ‘All I would have needed to do was take [a suspect’s] shoes and some samples from the scene.
‘Sycamore pollen doesn’t go very far. There would still be a halo of pollen around the tree. The person or people responsible would have got it on them.’
The world famous tree, located next to Hadrian’s Wall, appeared in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and was a much-loved tourist destination before it was chopped down in an ‘act of vandalism’.
The iconic tree was thought to be among the most photographed in the world – and when it was mysteriously chopped down it caused national outrage.
In November two men aged in their 30s were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and were bailed.
In December Walter Renwick, 69, and a 16-year-old boy who can not be named for legal reasons were arrested separately in connection with the felling, but police said they would face no further action.
Tree Weaver 