Gap tree felled!!

[Toddy]

A man in his 60's has been arrested over cutting down this tree.

Sycamore Gap: Man in his 60s held after Hadrian's Wall tree cut down

Police make a second arrest over the cutting-down of the world-famous Hadrian's Wall tree.

www.bbc.co.uk

and the 16 year old has been released.

 

[Robbi]

I see on the news a man in his 60s has been arrested

Note to self...... Must type faster.

 

[Tengu]

Why am I surprised?

 

[Wander]

Why am I surprised?

No idea.
Angry, reactionary, old, white men* have been acting spiteful and cruel for ages, on both sides of the Atlantic.
No idea why anyone would be surprised it was committed by this demographic.
We seem to be quick to throw our hands in the air at the actions of young people, but it seems to me the old clearly have a lot to answer for as well.

*Of course, not all old white men are angry or reactionary. Just the angry and reactionary ones.

 

[Mesquite]

A man in his 60's has been arrested over cutting down this tree.

Sycamore Gap: Man in his 60s held after Hadrian's Wall tree cut down

Police make a second arrest over the cutting-down of the world-famous Hadrian's Wall tree.

www.bbc.co.uk

and the 16 year old has been released.

The 16 yo was released on bail so that means he's still being investigated

 

[Wildgoose]

No idea.
Angry, reactionary, old, white men* have been acting spiteful and cruel for ages, on both sides of the Atlantic.
No idea why anyone would be surprised it was committed by this demographic.
We seem to be quick to throw our hands in the air at the actions of young people, but it seems to me the old clearly have a lot to answer for as well.

*Of course, not all old white men are angry or reactionary. Just the angry and reactionary ones.

Not sure what colour or background the two males arrested are or why that is relevant.

 

[British Red]

I would suggest that your 16 year old is the exception with chainsaws rather than the rule.

Like most skills it's about training & practice rather than the age of the operator. I've seen plenty in their forties and fifties who's chainsaw skills were distinctly lacking!

 

[Tengu]

My friends on other forums have decided its farmers to blame.

You know, those dangerous people who want to use their land to produce food.

 

[Toddy]

I wonder if it were more my original post; someone's just had enough.

It's had the totally opposite effect though, because now everybody and their Granny knows about the tree in the gap. Wonder how much visitor numbers might soar......

 

[Wildgoose]

A bit like the residents in the Three Peaks Villages maybe?

 

[Stew]

My friends on other forums have decided its farmers to blame.

You know, those dangerous people who want to use their land to produce food.

And how have they decided that? Probably just a guess.

It’s like folk saying it’s a disgruntled ex-NT employee.

 

[Wander]

My friends on other forums have decided its farmers to blame.

You know, those dangerous people who want to use their land to produce food.

Two important points though.
Firstly, is the land privately owned farm land?
Secondly, even if it is, how would that significantly improve farming space, given the proximity of that wall?
Whether your friends are farmers or not, they are displaying limited critical faculties.

At most I suspect this is someone who's had enough of people crossing the land to have a look. Ironically, because I reckon what they've done has significantly increased footfall now. Although from a police station cell it's hard to see how he would know.
Proving one thing. IF it is an aggrieved farmer, it demonstrates they may not always be the best custodians of the land, either environmentally or culturally. If.

 

[Toddy]

As far as I can see the land is actually owned by the NT, and so are the car parks and the fees they generate.

However, human nature being what it is, one has to wonder if everyone who visits uses the car parks, and if everyone who visits sticks to the 'approved routes' to the site.

It is very easy for a relatively rural area to feel utterly overwhelmed by sheer numbers of people just visiting.
From the parking to the footfall, the litter to the 'excrement', etc., it can seem as though they're destroying the very thing they come to see and supposedly appreciate.

 

[Paul_B]

NT owned but also farmed. Iirc its on a crossroads of footpaths of which the main one is the Hadrians wall trail. All along that stretch there's quite some undulations and a few steep parts of that trail. Often there's lazy people's paths around the hills top. Also, I don't recall there's a carpark exactly near to there but the road is only across a field and over a fence from there. The actual carpark to visit it i believe needs a walk over the hill alongside the wall.

Uproar about an Instagram tree that's non-native, growing on or near a significant archaeological site and probably self seeded. I'm bucking the trend on here in that I'm not too bothered by that tree being cut down apart from no vandalism (from that tree up to Banksy) is right or should be condoned.

BTW someone went up there and planted a young sycamore with a fence protection in that gap. Just outside where the investigation cordon was and not even central in the gap like the old tree. I hope someone digs it up. If you're going to plant a replacement then get it in the right place, as in central to the dip. Otherwise you just totally miss the point of the old tree's significance.

 

[Pattree]

In the (approximate) words of Granny Weatherwax: ‘It aint’t dead.’

 

[Stew]

NT owned but also farmed. Iirc its on a crossroads of footpaths of which the main one is the Hadrians wall trail. All along that stretch there's quite some undulations and a few steep parts of that trail. Often there's lazy people's paths around the hills top. Also, I don't recall there's a carpark exactly near to there but the road is only across a field and over a fence from there. The actual carpark to visit it i believe needs a walk over the hill alongside the wall.

Uproar about an Instagram tree that's non-native, growing on or near a significant archaeological site and probably self seeded. I'm bucking the trend on here in that I'm not too bothered by that tree being cut down apart from no vandalism (from that tree up to Banksy) is right or should be condoned.

BTW someone went up there and planted a young sycamore with a fence protection in that gap. Just outside where the investigation cordon was and not even central in the gap like the old tree. I hope someone digs it up. If you're going to plant a replacement then get it in the right place, as in central to the dip. Otherwise you just totally miss the point of the old tree's significance.

I had to look up the planting of another tree. Looks like the NT have removed it, or plan to, already. They’re going to nurture it and plant it on somewhere else. The original planter is making a fair bit of noise about it - I expect it was all about publicity for them in the first place so taking advantage of the reNovak as well as the planting. The correct choice to go though else they could have a forest being planted by everyone.

 

[Paul_B]

I must admit that I thought it was a bit arrogant to plant it and a bit selfpromoting to go public about doing it.

I thought planting something on a registered archaeological site or changing it in some way is a crime. Doubt they'll do anything other than remove it. The right decision I think.

 

[Paul_B]

I wonder how the sycamore got there in the first place, the original that is. I don't recall many sycamore in the area so it must have travelled in the first place somehow.

 

[Stew]

I wonder how the sycamore got there in the first place, the original that is. I don't recall many sycamore in the area so it must have travelled in the first place somehow.

Probably a seed dropped by a European swallow. It could manage that, at least….

 

[British Red]

Probably a seed dropped by a European swallow. It could manage that, at least….

African swallow surely