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.

I too was upset. I loved the tree on the wall.

This is a time of sadness, a time of grief, a time for lamentation and in such times, we mourn. We mourn this tragic loss. Our hearts go out to not only those Northumbrians who may once have sat bathed and blessed by the dappled light, beneath the boughs of this magnificent tree, but to everybody in this timbered isle who is touched by this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are for those devastated by this senseless felling. Just as we were united in grief for The Princess of Diana, we come together again, melded in sorrow for The Tree of Sycamore Gap. I now appreciate that puerile, arboreal puns were insensitive and my attempts to cedar funny side were inappropriate.

If 16 yo are fully developed mentally then why do we not let them vote, gamble, drive, enlist for active duty, or drink alcohol?

No one is arguing that the child should not be punished but the punishment needs to be appropriate for the crime and his age. He didn't rape or murder anyone and comparing the severity of illegally felling a much-loved tree to murdering an actual child is disgusting.

If 16 yo are fully developed mentally then why do we not let them vote, gamble, drive, enlist for active duty, or drink alcohol?

Because as a society we infantalise them. A hundred years ago a 16 year old would have been earning their own living for two years. The age of criminal responsibility is ten.

You’re being a total ash-hole.
Is that punny enough for you?

Leave people alone, they’re allowed to be distressed about such a subject and not appreciate having the piss taken.

If 16 yo are fully developed mentally then why do we not let them vote, gamble, drive, enlist for active duty, or drink alcohol?
But the age quoted was 25 for brain development to be completed and we allow all those things at 18.

(Just over) 100 years ago women weren’t allowed to vote, but thankfully we learn, we develop and society moves on.

A hundred years ago 14 yo girls would be getting married and starting a family but I don't see anyone arguing that disallowing that is infantilising.

The age of criminal responsibility is indeed 10, but youths are dealt with by the youth courts for a reason. Even the law itself recognizes that a 16yo is not as culpable as an adult.

A 16 year old has been detained. Old enough to know what he did. Hope they pick off his limbs. Little b@$t@rd

I was sneered at for the Bart Simpson comparison yesterday, but frankly it sounds as though I was right! The social media response is starting to sound mob-like.

And bringing the Alesha MacPhail case into this is vile.

It is a terrible thing, but so is the death of a 15 year old girl stabbed on her way to school, or another 15 year old girl killed in a coach crash. That puts it into perspective. The seven oaks at Sevenoaks in Kent were blown down in a storm - they were replaced with new ones. The sycamore tree can be replaced. The girls can't.

I am absolutely gutted. It made me cry. Nature is suffering so much and now someone had taken something beautiful she has given us and killed it. I just don’t understand…..

Obviously, neither the 16-year-old nor the 60-year-old has developed any moral compass or conscience.

@Boysgrownbutstillathome I can never understand this argument. Of course terrible things happen. I could tell you a few awful heartbreaking things that have happened that years later I still haven't recovered from. This doesn't mean that I can't be upset about the needless destruction of a beautiful living thing which was just minding its own business, doing no harm. In fact doing the opposite of harm. Just growing and changing and keeping the air pure and watching over people as they cried or proposed or just sat and let the world wash over them. Nobody needs lecturing about getting perspective on this. It's a sad and horrible event that people are perfectly entitled to be upset about.

Can we just look at this loss for what it is without comparing against non-related murders and sruff?
There is so much evil in the world, it's the minority who give a shit about the climate emergency, most people will pop a plastic bottle into recycling but still buy Chinese imported shit.
This beautiful Sycamore Gap tree brought joy into countless people's lives , in a fucked up world where it's getting increasingly harder to find much joy. It improved mental health. It got people out walking, laughing, taking pictures, making memories, leaving loved ones' ashes. It meant a lot. It's been destroyed for no reason whatsoever. Mindless vandalism.
My hope is that something of it can be saved, I've seen posts about the possibility of cultivating seedlings for example. I don't know much about arboriculture but perhaps there's a way to rejuvenate it from the roots.
And maybe an empathetic land artist such as Andy Goldsworthy could create a meaningful memorial from the severed trunk .
Do we need to worry about fuckwits copycatting? Do we need to be extra vigilant around other precious trees and places of beauty? Fuck knows.
It all hurts my heart - young lives being stolen, beautiful wildlife being ripped apart. Unfathomable sadness in a world where kindness and empathy should be everything.

Current idea is the 16 yr was fired from his apprenticeship and the older chap was evicted from his home. So them and a third person teamed up for revenge.

16 year old released 60 year old arrested.

I thought farmer and his grandson at that point tbh.

Perfect post, well said.

16 year old released on bail.

That lad has a bright future in any Local Authority in London. They all LOVE chopping trees down.

Deep state op to distract us from their true agenda abandoning net zero, state of the economy, big Tory donations, big pharma profits etc

So what would be an appropriate consequence for this act?

I'd go for a long spell of community service involving tree sapling planting, woodland management, pond clearing, removal of invasive species, meadow management, dry stone wall repair - making good, promoting the future, ecology and wildlife protection work. Doing something practical and beneficial for the landscape. Working with others to leave something positive.

I agree. But I’d want a long prison sentence first. There has to be some pain.

This is my thoughts too…. Someone has done this who is sick of tourists traipsing up and down the hill side…. Would be interesting to see whether there is a local farmer or land owner who has vocalised being pissed off with public right of way running through their land… or someone who’s been vocally annoyed with the damage tourists have been doing (litter etc).
It doesn’t look like the tree had a wedge removed to determine which way it would fall though?? So I’d argue that the feller wasn’t quite so knowledgable ??

"Officer, I was just walking along, minding my own business and juggling my chain saws when all of a sudden one leapt out of my hands and fell into the tree. By the time I wrested control back, the tree had fallen."