The Death Sentence…

… has been passed on our beautiful village tree tunnel. A couple of weeks ago we saw lots of pink spots (extra) painted on nearly all of the big beech trees along the bottom road into the village. You can see the tunnel in its autumn glory at https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2106457237475033157. I went to a public meeting late afternoon at the beginning of the tree tunnel where we were given all the reasons for the felling of these trees, the main one being safety of the road as every year at least one tree falls across it. This year the trees have been weakened by the prolonged period of drought. Everyone is so shocked and sad, we’ve just about got over the grief for the 500 year old sweet chestnut tree on the top road into the village, which fell before Christmas! 850 trees will be felled starting in mid February, the forest and all its inhabitants must be weeping silently. A black woodpecker seemed to symbolically screech his objection at the end of the meeting.