There was a North York Moors Park ranger’s Land Rover in the car park today. I noticed as we walked up the path to the camps orange dots sprayed on tree trunks.

Due for felling, Cawthorne, North Yorkshire, 30th January 2018

I spoke to the ranger in the woods on the edge of the tabular hills. Last year a survey had been done on trees that were ready to come down either through having rotted or were damaged through the wind.

Fallen Tree by the path, Cawthorne, North Yorkshire, 30th January 2018

He said he’d managed to simply push some over. He was looking for one particular dangerous one in the place we were stood but couldn’t find it. Then he spotted it. Balanced precariously above our heads was a broken branch, a huge branch at that, hooked on another branch. A few strands of bark supported it and stopped it falling.

We had strong winds at the end of last year. One or two trees came down in the woods and were sawn up into logs which remain in the place where the tree fell.

We had strong winds last week.

Cawthorne, North Yorkshire, 30th January 2018

This one came down late last year.

Tree roots, Cawthorne, North Yorkshire, January 30th 2018