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.

This is all very sad. It was absolutely beautiful.

Will we ever find out what happened?

(I mean the full story)

Me too SirSam

I know there's a lot of other things going on at the moment, but this is all people were talking about at work today (North East)

They're not really a child at 16. A 12 y/o you could understand not getting the gravity of what they're doing, but 16 is plenty old enough. A truly awful thing to do.

It is also the talk of my office. People are upset about it.

I just hope name is keep as quiet as possible so that there could be a fair trial.

There’s public outrage about it, the name’s irrelevant. There will be intense pressure to throw the book at the culprit(s).

Generally I don’t like conspiracy theories but I wonder if this has anything to do with it. This was not a kuu issue hacking at it with his dad’s chainsaw, it was a professional job. Lines were drawn on the trunk and an effective ‘hinge’ made it a controlled felling. In the darkness of the night a long way from anywhere. Someone transported the kit and an experienced tree specialist to do this.

Doubt it. The tree would have no effect on the proposed wind turbines they wouldn’t be building it where it stood. Bardon Mill is near, but not that near.

Edited because autocarrot is a fan of screen goddesses, apparently

It's an act of senseless vandalism and as such is exactly the sort of rage fuelled revenge act that a teenage boy would carry out. I don't mean to dismiss it, I was also shocked and very saddened by this.

However, when the shock wears off it was only a tree and not, as in the recent murder in Croydon, a completely innocent 15 year old girl who can't grow back. 😞

I don't say this to belittle the loss that local people are feeling, but because it feels disproportionate to talk about it as murder whilst this family are grappling with the senseless loss of their daughter.

There’s rumours it was actually the dad due to him hating tourists and the boy is taking the rap for it as he will not be punished as harshly. Allegedly.

Not buying it.

I am devastated about this but the brain isn’t fully developed until 25. I did many many stupid things I regret at 16. Did I ever do anything like this? No of course not but, but 16 is still really young. He will regret this and I don’t think the punishment should be too harsh. It needs to be fitting to the crime, we shouldn’t sensationalise the punishment because of how upset we are.

Agree with this, some of these replies are just too much in my opinion. He’s not a toddler but 16 isn’t an adult and teenagers simply aren’t known for their sensible decision making.

Also, we need to remember that the fucking government commit Ecocide on a regular basis. Let’s not let our anger for this blur our general judgment; this teenager has destroyed one tree and people are baying for blood, but the government have destroyed whole habitats of ecologically vital places and no one bats an eyelid.

‘A culture is no better than its woods.’ Auden.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/29/sycamore-gap-tree-attack-is-part-of-war-on-nature-in-uk-says-poet?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I suppose i have no experience of 16 y/os but i do struggle to understand why they'd do something like that tbh. It's so nasty.

Thank Christ you had no say on the judgement to this 16 year old then:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murderof_Alesha_MacPhail

If indeed it is another 16 year old cretin who did this, the twisted scrote took a chainsaw to a beloved landmark, on a site covered with messages to deceased loved ones, a place filled with memories hence the genuine devastation, and carried out such an act that took alot of planning given the remote location and the tools needed to execute it.

I think the outrage is because of two things: 1. the act of destroying something that meant so much to people, 2. that an individual could be this spiteful.

I struggled to wrap my head around his when the news broke because of its depravity. He took out something because it was cherished. He's a wicked bastard and please God he gets his justice.

Such a beautiful and famous landmark gone. I'm really sad about it as it held special memories for me and my family and I'm sure countless other people.

Oh for goodness sakes, don’t be ridiculous. The two are not comparable.

I have said that the person needs a punishment fitting of the crime. We don’t know any of the details yet and some of the responses online are getting extreme. Where is your pitchfork for the rest of the ecocide committed every day? We have lost many more ecologically important things at the hands of others. All I’m saying is some perspective is needed here. And I am just as devastated about the loss of this tree as I have demonstrated on this thread. But with very little details demanding blood of a teenager is ridiculous. Don’t become what you condemn.

A 60 year-old has been arrested - sort of expected, rather than just a teenager.

"the brain isn’t fully developed until 25"

It was you that mentioned age.

Clearly you feel that being 16 you are less culpable...so that other 16 year old that raped and murdered a child....well, "the brain isn’t fully developed until 25". Unless of course you cherry pick when to use that line.

He destroyed something because it was cherished. Let that fully sink in. He went to a great deal of planning, to destroy something, because it was cherished. That's the crux of this. It is the act of a depraved mind.

Kimberly McGuinness, the police and crime commissioner for Northumberland, was also at the scene. Like many people in the area, she also had a personal connection to the tree as her wedding invitations had featured an image of it.
“I can’t understand why anyone would do this. It’s like stealing joy,” she said.
Hadrian’s Wall Sycamore Gap tree

I’m not cherry picking - it’s biology, the brain isn’t fully developed until 25. That’s true, feel free to do your own research. But comparing rape and murder to felling a tree is ridiculous not to mention extremely disrespectful.

And at no point did I say it wasn’t any of those things. I have let it fully sink in. This is my job. I work with trees like that regularly. I’ve seen the damage that is done often and I’ve wept over it on many occasion as. What I have said is: lets ensure the punishment fits the crime and don’t lets this be a scapegoat for the constant ecocide that is happening in our country.

Your argument is weird.

"Stealing joy" is a great description.

That's what makes this depraved.

The individual(s) who did this, did so because it was cherished.

The vast majority get this and are outraged. The issue for the tiny minority who are apologists is they minimise it and think "tree, cut down"....and (if it was a 16 year old), schoolboy "mistake". That it was a tree is academic. That's besides the point. Whatever it was it was something that meant a great deal to so many, and because of this that is the reason he destroyed it. And the age excuse doesn't apply unless of course you pick and choose when to use it.

It boils down to this, again;

He destroyed something because it was cherished. Let that fully sink in. He went to a great deal of planning, to destroy something, because it was cherished. That's the crux of this. It is the act of a depraved mind.