The Guardian17 Jun 2026Macro
Automatically composed with AI from the cited sources
The RSPB confirmed that the 1,000-year-old oak in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, failed to produce any leaves this spring after being stressed by a series of hot, dry summers, including the 40°C heatwave of July 2022, and by soil compaction from the 350,000 annual visitors, as well as by historic interventions that included filling hollow parts with concrete and supporting limbs with props that prevented the tree’s natural retreat into its trunk. The oak’s girth measured 11 metres and its canopy 28 metres; it was one of 114 surviving ancient oaks in England with a girth exceeding nine metres.