Latest news with #GaryPickles
BBC News
09-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
The park ranger who alerted world to Sycamore Gap tree's fate
The deliberate felling of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland angered people around the world. For the man who was first on the scene, it was a moment that changed his life forever. Park ranger Gary Pickles was in once had stood arguably England's favourite tree, there was now just the call had come through earlier that morning, Gary had thought it was a working day on 28 September 2023 had barely started when a farmer called his office to report the tree was down."I doubted a farmer would be telling us a silly story so I thought 'oh my god, I think this might be true'." The team of park rangers were alerted by email and Gary got in his van to drive to the every passing minute of the short journey, his anxiety levels increased."As I got nearer and nearer, I just thought 'it's gone, it's gone'."He'd arrived at the road adjacent to the tree and had to "double take" as he saw it for the first time lying on its side."It was shock," said Gary, who was met with a gaping hole in the landscape. At this stage, he presumed the tree had been damaged in Storm Agnes, which had brought strong winds overnight."When you look and it's gone, it's my god," he said."It's a landmark. It's a piece of the landscape."Gary needed to investigate further. He parked his van in a nearby car park and rushed on foot to the fallen tree. The sadness he was feeling soon turned to anger and panic."When I got there I realised it had been chopped down and not blown down."There was a clean cut so that escalated it up."Once you realise it's been chopped down, then it's going to become a massive worldwide story."The seriousness of the developing situation quickly became hastily reported back to Northumberland National Park's headquarters that it appeared that the tree had been cut down deliberately. At this stage there was no time to consider who by or why. Just after 09:00 BST, the National Park alerted colleagues at the National Trust, including general manager Andrew Poad."My personal phone started lighting up. Messages were coming through on my laptop."Once I realised it was a deliberate act, crisis mode kicked in," said Andrew, whose priority was to personally inform people before they saw it on social media."It was like ringing people up to tell them that someone had passed away."On the day I was using the expression 'it's like losing a loved one'. We all went through that grief."There were numerous members of staff in tears."Viral photographs shared on social media showed the tree on its side, as the PR teams at the National Park and the National Trust frantically collaborated on an official response."Within the hour it was global, effectively," Andrew said. Shortly before 11:00, a statement from the organisations confirmed the tree had been cut down. At around midday, Northumbria Police announced it was being treated as "a deliberate act of vandalism".Local journalists were already carrying out interviews at the scene, before reporters from around the world turned the grassy mound opposite the stump into a "sea of camera tripods"."It is the largest press story that the National Trust has ever dealt with," Andrew said."It was one of the things that surprised us. The sheer scale of the global reach of the interest really took us back a bit."The usual calming sound of the vast countryside was drowned out by the clicks of cameras and the engines of broadcast trucks."We knew it was popular, but we didn't know how popular," Andrew said. The international interest also surprised Gary."My sister lives in France, my brother is in America, and by dinner time they'd both rung me, so it was global news at such a fast rate."Senior management from the National Park and the National Trust spent the afternoon at the fallen tree, speaking to the crowds of emotional walkers and gathered shocking footage of the trunk draped over a now damaged Hadrian's Wall. This idyllic, tranquil spot that had brought peace to so many was now a crime scene wrapped in blue and white police tape. Forensic officers in white suits also gathered DNA from the months on from its felling, Andrew and Gary regularly reflect on the day that north-east England lost "a massive local landmark.""It's just senseless. Who or what were they trying to get at?" said Andrew."It's still a huge part of my life dealing with this. It's a big gap in all our lives, never mind the landscape." The jury in the trial of the pair accused of cutting down the tree - Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers - found both guilty. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
The Independent
09-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
‘Bloody hell, that can't be': Moment ranger discovered iconic Sycamore Gap tree had been hacked down
For park ranger Gary Pickles, 28 September 2023 started no differently to any other Friday morning. The clock had not long gone 8am and the 55-year-old was sipping his first cup of tea of the day at his home in the village of Haydon Bridge when, suddenly, his phone pinged and an email popped up on his laptop. It contained a report from a farmer saying the Sycamore Gap tree had been chopped down. 'I thought bloody hell, that can't be' said the Hadrian's Wall path national trail ranger, who rushed to his car to drive to the west-to-east Military Road, running parallel to Hadrian's Wall, for sight of the tree, usually so famously perched in a sloping dip of the wall. 'I got to the gap, and it was empty,' he said. 'I thought 'Jesus' and I stopped to look at the fallen tree from the road before ringing up comms [communications team at Northumbria National Park Authority].' 'Shock is the way of explaining how I felt, a pang of sadness,' said Mr Pickles, who jogged to the scene of the crime and immediately sent pictures to the authority. Within hours, the tree's destruction was making headlines across the world. 'There was a sense of you're there and there is a job to be done,' he added. 'But when I drove past after, and the tree, which I was so used to seeing, wasn't there, that was when it felt quite difficult, quite hard. The tree had been there so long and meant so much to many, many people.' At the nearby pub, the Twice Brewed Inn, the alarm was raised by one of the workers who thought the tree had come down in Storm Agnes. A picture shared on Facebook by the pub, which brews its own Sycamore Gap ale, quickly went viral. 'I could tell it had been cut down,' said manager Steve Blair. 'There was the immediate element of surprise but then anger and question of like, 'who would cut it down?' The tree is as important as Hadrian's Wall, it's part of the scene, we were all really gutted.' Soon the world's media arrived. Reporters and photographers watched as conservationists worked quickly to graft living parts of the tree for future saplings, while surgeons cut the trunk down into sections for removal. Nationally, the story was met with an outpouring of emotion. The National Trust, which owns the tree, received thousands of tributes and messages. And then there was anger. Hairy Biker Si King, who grew up in County Durham, said those responsible had 'murdered a sentinel of time and elemental spirit of Northumberland'. Kevin Reynolds, who directed the Hollywood film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, in which the tree featured in one of the film's most famous scenes, said he was 'stunned', 'gutted' and 'furious', while comparing its importance to the Taj Mahal. A police investigation was hurriedly launched with each arrest stirring up fresh rumours and speculation that circulated for weeks. Finally, after more than six months, Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were charged with criminal damage to the tree. On Friday, the pair were found guilty of by a jury. The court heard how Graham, a ground worker, and Carruthers, a mechanic, had gone on the 'moronic mission', driving from Carlisle to Sycamore Gap armed with a chainsaw. While one cut the tree down, the other filmed it - before they drove away with a wedge from the tree inside their vehicle as souvenir for the criminal act. Neither claimed responsibility, and so no reason has been given for the destruction. Back at the pub, which had CCTV of the pair's vehicle shown to the jury in court, Mr Blair said he initially thought the tree's destruction would have a negative impact on business. But if anything, the publicity has helped keep the tills ringing. Its flagship Sycamore Gap ale, sold at £4.40 a pint at the bar, is its biggest seller and this year it emerged on the shelves at Sainsbury's stores. The pub now has more than 400 seats and has its first beer festival planned for August. Meanwhile, a fundraiser launched by the pub for the Northumbria National Park Authority tipped over £10,000 last year after an American visitor handed over more than £5,000. 'The only time I notice fewer people here is when it snows or we get a frosty morning,' said Mr Blair. 'But people still want to come to this section of the wall, they still come here to photograph the beautiful scenery. And you get people coming to see the tree stump.' It's a similar story at the nearby campsite of Herding Hill Farm, where manager Sue Humphreys enjoyed a booked-up Easter. It's a quieter spring so far, but Ms Humphreys hopes business will pick up at the AA Platinum Pennant site. 'People will still walk to Sycamore Gap, so it hasn't really had an impact on tourism,' she said. 'We all live in hope for a future for the tree, you can't let these people [those convicted] stop that.' The most popular route to the tree from Steel Rigg car park is a strenuous 30-minute walk. Last month, just ahead of the trial, there was a mix of hikers walking the section of the Hadrian's Wall and families and visitors coming to see the fenced-off stump. Observed clambering down from the steep banks either side of the gap, each person stopped to look at the tree stump, which now has several shoots coming from it, boosting hopes of a recovery - although growth will take several generations. Dozens of saplings are also to be planted across the UK while the largest section of the tree will be on display at The Sill visitor centre in Northumberland this summer. 'People still want contact with the tree,' said Rosie Thomas, director of business development at Northumberland National Park. 'What this final installation will offer is a space for people to come and reflect which is something the public told us they wanted.' Back at the stump of the Sycamore Gap tree, Sarah arrived from Durham to celebrate her 52nd birthday. Sat on a section of Hadrian's Wall nearby, she said she cried when she first heard about it coming down. 'It is a loss, it feels physical - to see it missing from the landscape for the first time was very difficult,' she said. 'But there's a lot of good work happening to keep its legacy going, it's what we all want, need, to see,' she added. James Schuiter, 47, from Michigan in the US, said: 'To see what it meant to people and the beautiful pictures before it was cut down, it's hard to know why anyone would want to cut it down - but they will not win.'
