Sycamore Gap - tree has been felled!

[NepheliLoux]

Looks like someone has deliberately felled the famous tree in Sycamore Gap. I can’t believe anyone would do such a thing. I don’t normally get emotional but this has really upset me. It’s absolutely irreplaceable.

A 16 year old did it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12571545/sycamore-gap-tree-felling-16-year-old-boy-arrested.html

Read the room.

I do wonder what they will do with the tree now it has been felled. If they will chop it or give it to some to carve or even potentially preserve somewhere. Will be interesting

I'm doubtful that it was a lone 16 year old because I live nearby and out of all the teenagers I know, only a couple would be capable of this but living up here, not a single one of them would do something so damaging to the area. The ones with family in this industry generally have a level of respect for the environment and would understand the impact.

My DH is all for putting him in the stocks.

Or for a ‘viral’ video

I was going to post the link to the article and checked first to see if anyone else had done so which is how I found the cross posting. If I had posted the link without cehcking I am sure you woud have been pissed off about that instead as you seem to be looking for something to pick on. If it felt sarcastic to you that's not down to me. I couldn't win either way it seems.

I found something I thought I could help with quickly so I posted, thought a line would suffice. Sorry you are having a bad day, hope you feel better soon and no need to look for the bad in everyone.

I have no more to say so won't be back.

It takes a fair bit of skill and a chainsaw with a longer than average guide bar to fell such a large tree and the cuts look like they were made by someone with some training*, not just someone who uses a chainsaw to cut fire wood.
*although tbf they did fell it onto a Scheduled Monument which is something else they can hopefully be charged with.

That's quite some tree to cut, I would think a large chainsaw would be needed and some equipment to prevent the weight of the tree stopping the saw in its tracks.
There should be a law against vandalising our heritage. Ancient yews have been attacked (benefiting property developers) and the Crooked House fire and demolition should be punished with hefty sentences.

One of the most famous trees in the world and a fucking evil bastard fells it for kicks.

I'm from Northumberland and the whole of the North East is raging about this Baying for blood.

Most of us are capable of doing more than one thing at the same time, you should try it!

There was a bloke fined £300000 subsequently reduced to £120000 (I think)for felling a 176 year old redwood. So whoever did this should be fined even more.

@Missingpresumedhidden - that is a very fair point - yes there are places where lorries cranes etc can back up. My mistake - well pointed out.

It wasn't that old - 60 years maybe. That thing that says it was 400 years old is way off the mark. DH was the landscape architect who dealt with that stretch of the Wall and he's a good tree man. He's pretty pissed off. Not keen on sycamores (tree people think they're weedy) but it was a special tree because of the position.

I couldn’t get that upset over a tree. Of all the horrendous, sickeningly vile things that happen each second of the day, caused mostly by humans I may add! this would be close to the bottom of my list to be honest.

Most people with at least two brain cells to rub together wouldn't find that caring about a tree would overload their brain to the point of even slightly reducing how much they care about lots of other things.

🤣🤣

i heard them saying it was older than all of us!

lots of rural based kids will have access to a chainsaw for log cutting or splitting and quad bikes are a common way of getting to these type of areas you could use quad bike headlights to see what you were doing.

Reading that it was a 16 year old my first thought is I bet they thought it'd make a good tiktok or some such shite.

I don't expect everyone to be familiar with the setting - is easy to under estimate just how remote and wild some parts of Northumberland are. If people are picturing Snowdon with its railway access or parts of the Lake District or Cornwall as rural areas they would be surprised at the lack of infrastructure. My DH feel in love with the details of a property in Northumberland I had explain to him why we couldn't just up sticks and move there (the nearest secondary was over 20 miles away and we have school aged DC). The next time we were up north I took to see it pointing out the miles of remote country lanes that have 10 foot snow markets along them.

Can you explain further why you think a 16 year old lad couldnt walk this hilly route carrying a chain saw weighing several kg only ?

I'll never understand why people hate nature so much.

It reminds me of all the people currently paving over their front gardens and installing plastic grass and acres of fencing.

Silly idiotic boy! - he’s now facing a £20.000 plus fine (TPO) and criminal charges!

Hopefully they will replace the tree and the felled tree will be made to some landmark.

The same mentality as the twat(s) who walked down my street with recently planted young trees and snapped every single one of them in half. I’d like to have snapped them in half. Sometimes I despair of the human race. No, not sometimes, most of the time.

Well usually to fell a tree of thos size you'd also have a felling bar, wedges and a mell which would add to the weight considerably.