Sycamore gap vandalism.

[43110andyb]

A sad day not just for the North East but the wider world!  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-66952980

I’m saddened and dumbfounded today 😢 -reminds me of the vandalism of the model railway show at Stamford (Market Deeping) and the outrage caused by that incident!

Edited September 28, 2023 by 43110andyb

[Oldddudders]

27 minutes ago, 43110andyb said:

A sad day not just for the North East but the wider world!  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-66952980

I’m saddened and dumbfounded today 😢 -reminds me of the vandalism of the model railway show at Stamford (Market Deeping) and the outrage caused by that incident!

Your analogy w Market Deeping is very apt. Completely pointless destruction in both cases. I fear the law will not be able to do much to the offender, though plenty of people would have ideas of their own....

[Hroth]

I'm not entirely convinced that the 16yo was the prime actor.

 

Hopefully a night banged up on his own in a police cell surrounded by screaming drunks will get him to spill the beans...

 

[didcot]

Take one of the branches and do a Basil Fawlty on the little tyke! Absolutely no excuse whatsoever for mindless vandalism.

[Sidecar Racer]

 Looking at the BBC photos that would have needed  more than

a battery chain saw to fell . So either he was a helper or he has a

big chainsaw somewhere .

Edited September 28, 2023 by Sidecar Racer

[APOLLO]

Very sad news. What a horrible nation we are becoming

 

Look at the cut, very straight, tree marked in white first, seems a professional job to me. More than one 16 year old involved. 

 

 

Can a mature similar tree be transplanted to here ? 

[maico]

It will spring new shoots from the stump?

[Hroth]

23 minutes ago, maico said:

It will spring new shoots from the stump?

 

Called "coppicing", and the NT spokesperson on the news this evening suggested that thats what may happen.

 

But it won't look the same ever again.  Even though they are fast growing trees, the new growth will look lumpy and offsided, nothing like the perfect tree that was destroyed today.

 

[John M Upton]

I reckon a team were in the process of nicking the tree to sell as firewood, probably unaware of its significance, just a tree in the middle of nowhere ripe for the picking to them and they would have been back tonight to cut it up and load it.

[Sidecar Racer]

10 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

I reckon a team were in the process of nicking the tree to sell as firewood, probably unaware of its significance, just a tree in the middle of nowhere ripe for the picking to them and they would have been back tonight to cut it up and load it.

 They would be doing a lot of walking and carrying then , the nearest road is a

long way off .

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.0031786,-2.3698434,2420m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

[Coldgunner]

Its not an easy location to get to. Not exactly far from the road as such but would certainly need a decent offroader. I certainly think this is a 'professional' job personally.

[LBRJ]

I think,  maybe rather cynically, that this is  possibly just the sort of thing that a Farmer who was fed up with an overdose of tourists would do.

Certainly it would appear to have been done by someone who knows  what they are doing, and has the equipment with which to do so.

[Sidecar Racer]

13 minutes ago, LBRJ said:

I think,  maybe rather cynically, that this is  possibly just the sort of thing that a Farmer who was fed up with an overdose of tourists would do.

 

 

 But the Pennine Way is a recognized National Trail . So there will always be hikers

in the area passing , not specifically to see the tree .

[Sidecar Racer]

40 minutes ago, Coldgunner said:

Its not an easy location to get to. Not exactly far from the road as such but would certainly need a decent offroader. I certainly think this is a 'professional' job personally.

 

 Here is a view from  the closest road , I don't think an off roader would

get there .

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.9988959,-2.3713279,3a,76.6y,351.55h,80.05t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMAQfYe1h3vjIWmWWr9Yalg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[Coldgunner]

There's a gate with a path that more or less takes you near enough to the tree. The 'road' takes you near to the tree and from memory its reasonably flat around the base of the hills.



https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.0000749,-2.3882061,3a,75y,88.63h,88.74t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sidfpxvHjvBgrMNYs7hx25g!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DidfpxvHjvBgrMNYs7hx25g%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D99.73714%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

Edited September 28, 2023 by Coldgunner

[Red Devil]

I've dropped more than a few trees in the course of my work over the years. Whoever has done that has access to a decent saw (I'd say 22 inch bar at least) and certainly has done some before. Now I'm not saying a 16 year old (especially if around this sort of work) couldn't do it, but I don't see an inexperienced kid marking that tree up (white paint markings on tree) dropping it as cleanly in the dead of the night on what I guess may well have been a windy night.

If it was then I'll stand corrected, but the kit required isn't cheap and most certainly isn't 'in my dads shed' unless your dad is most likely a pro.

[Michael Hodgson]

3 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Very sad news. What a horrible nation we are becoming

 

Look at the cut, very straight, tree marked in white first, seems a professional job to me. More than one 16 year old involved. 

 

 

Can a mature similar tree be transplanted to here ? 

That does not look to me like the antics of a teenager who's consumed a couple of pints more than his capacity.

And I doubt such a lad would have an industrial grade chain saw with him when he went to the pub.

[Red Devil]

2 hours ago, John M Upton said:

I reckon a team were in the process of nicking the tree to sell as firewood, probably unaware of its significance, just a tree in the middle of nowhere ripe for the picking to them and they would have been back tonight to cut it up and load it.

There is sod all money in dropping a Sycamore miles from anywhere to sell for firewood.... 

[Andy Hayter]

49 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 But the Pennine Way is a recognized National Trail . So there will always be hikers

in the area passing , not specifically to see the tree .

 

Not on the Pennine way but it is on the coast to coast walk along the length of the wall, so the point is well made.

[The Johnster]

Surely this cannot be simply explained away as 'mindless vandalism', and it is clearly not the work of a lone disaffected teenager with an axe to grind (sorry).  The tree was, I submit, blocking access to or lookout sightlines for some nefarious and unpleasant countryside activity, dog-fighting, badger-baiting, or hare-coursing perhaps, or maybe simply inconveniencing poachers' lookouts, and has paid the price.  Chances of the miscreants being brought officially to book are mimimal, remote rural areas with strong traditions tend to have their own ways of dealing with such matters...

[Jeremy Cumberland]

7 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

 

Not on the Pennine way but it is on the coast to coast walk along the length of the wall, so the point is well made.

It's on the Pennine Way and the Hadrian's Wall Path, both national trails, and is also one of the most popular parts of Hadrian's Wall for ordinary tourists to vist, between the pub at Twice Brewed and what is probably the best peserved fort at Housesteads.

 

The Coast to Coast path is much further south, passing through Swaledale.

[TheQ]

Still don't think a 16 year old did that on his own, even if a foresters apprentice. Still think he's most likely carrying the can for a local farmer.. probably for a lump of money..

[Sidecar Racer]

11 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

 

Not on the Pennine way but it is on the coast to coast walk along the length of the wall, so the point is well made.

 

 Well the dotted line on the map says Pennine Way .

 

 And this .   https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/pennine-way/itinerary/pennine-way-hadrians-wall-to-the-scottish-border/

 

 Sorry , answered be fore seeing Jeremy's reply .

Edited September 29, 2023 by Sidecar Racer
To hasty .

[Hroth]

2 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 Well the dotted line on the map says Pennine Way .

 

 And this .   https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/pennine-way/itinerary/pennine-way-hadrians-wall-to-the-scottish-border/

 

Which perhaps should be called "The Cheviot Way" as its left the Pennines behind!

 

[Sidecar Racer]

11 hours ago, Coldgunner said:

There's a gate with a path that more or less takes you near enough to the tree. The 'road' takes you near to the tree and from memory its reasonably flat around the base of the hills.

 

 Even if you managed to get a close to the place you need more than

a 4x4 and trailer to shift that amount of wood . Plus if that was the plan

they dropped it on the wrong side of the wall .

 

 And to do it at night would make it  even harder . Noise and lights .