In the early hours of 28 September 2023, a sycamore tree was ignominiously felled in Northumberland. Being around 200 years old, it was not a particularly venerable specimen. And, compared with the widespread destruction of natural habitat during the construction of HS2, its demise might be seen as rather trivial. For heaven’s sake, it wasn’t even a ‘native’ tree!
And yet… The loss of
