'This tree is dying'

I saw this sign on my walk to work in Bristol this morning and I did a double-take.

Why would anyone go to the trouble of attaching a note to a tree to inform everyone it is dying? So that we show it particular reverence? So that we act to try to save it?

It certainly would not have occurred to me in a million years that this particular tree in Bristol's Temple Quarter - out of the hundreds of trees in this area - was in trouble.

But then as William Blake wrote: 'A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees'.

There was also a surreal element to the sign. Would the same person attach 'This tree is living' signs to healthier specimens? I can't say I saw any.

Apparently as many as half of newly-planted trees can die within a couple of years, so the death of one shouldn't come as a particular surprise.

And as Linnaeus said: 'If a tree dies, plant another in its place'.