The Major oak, one of Europe\u2019s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, has died.<\/p>\n
The huge tree, which has grown in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire<\/a>, England, for at least 1,000 years, failed to produce any leaves this year, after becoming stressed by a series of hot, dry summers.<\/p>\n Thousands of visitors admire the oak each year, with its great age, enormous 11-metre girth and 28-metre canopy inspiring a forest of folklore. Although the oak would not have been hollow in Robin Hood\u2019s day, it was said to have provided a sanctuary for the outlaw and his gang when fleeing the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham<\/a>.<\/p>\n Major oak, c 1900. Photograph: Heritage Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n In the winter of 2010, when snow fell on the tree, it traced an eerily precise image of Friar Tuck on the trunk. In other winters, when snow fell all around, none appeared on the tree\u2019s limbs.<\/p>\n But it was recent summers \u2013 and human admiration \u2013 that probably hastened the natural end of the tree\u2019s long life.<\/p>\n Like other ancient oaks, the tree has been repeatedly stressed by the heat and drought of global heating, particularly the heatwave of July 2022 when Britain baked under record 40C temperatures.<\/p>\n Robin Hood arrived in an electric van for an impromptu, informal funeral beside the tree after the RSPB, which manages the Sherwood Forest site of special scientific interest (SSSI), announced the tree\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n Robert Brackley, an outdoor educator who has shown thousands of schoolchildren the wonders of the Major oak while dressed in authentic outlaw furs with functioning bow and arrow, said: \u201cThe stories it has given us is the legacy. It\u2019s the most famous tree in the world. The legend always lives on. I feel sad but it\u2019s a fleeting moment in time. We must remember how it was and be in awe of it today.\u201d<\/p>\n Visitors from Spain, Sheffield, the US, South Korea and Australia paused beside the tree to pay their respects. \u201cIt\u2019s ginormous!\u201d said Carter Jackson, eight, from Sheffield. \u201cIt\u2019s a really beautiful tree and it\u2019s sad it\u2019s died.\u201d<\/p>\n Props and metal chains were installed in 1904 to support the oak\u2019s branches. Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Ryan Jackson, his father, added: \u201cIt\u2019s a piece of history that\u2019s dying but it was 1,000 years old, you can\u2019t live for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPoor tree,\u201d said Kirsty Champion from Adelaide. \u201cI always watched Robin Hood on the TV and read the books. It\u2019s so sad that we tried to help it and conserve it but it probably made it worse.\u201d<\/p>\n England has a unique wealth of very large and ancient oaks<\/a>: 114 living ancient oaks with a girth of more than nine metres, described by conservationists as \u201cthe white rhinos of the UK\u201d, with only 98 found across the rest of Europe, including Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n Ever since the oak was named in honour of Maj Hayman Rooke, a local historian who described the tree in 1790, it has attracted admirers \u2013 these days, 350,000 each year. Although a protective barrier was placed around the tree in the 1970s, the oak was weakened by poor soil health and soil compaction from visitors as well as Sherwood\u2019s wartime role as a military camp.<\/p>\n Well-intentioned historical interventions have not helped its longevity. In 1904, props and metal chains were installed to support its branches. In the 1960s, hollow parts of the tree were filled with concrete to support it, while limbs were clad with lead, then fibre-glass and even treated with fire-retardant paint.<\/p>\n Experts believe that the props that continued to support the tree\u2019s mighty limbs also placed it under strain. Left alone, ancient oaks shed their limbs and \u201cgrow down\u201d, retreating into their trunk and thereby requiring less water and nutrients as they age.<\/p>\n (From left) Kirsty Champion, Sue Winston and Chris Champion from Adelaide, Australia, at the Major oak. Kirsty said: \u2018It\u2019s so sad that we tried to help it and conserve it but it probably made it worse.\u2019 Photograph: Fabio De Paola\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Since the RSPB took over management of the site in 2018 and undertook studies and emergency action to address the tree\u2019s failing health, it was discovered that the oak\u2019s mighty trunk was becoming depleted of water as it was pumped to the outer branches, which were artificially supported by props.<\/p>\n The props \u201cprobably impacted its ability to sustain itself,\u201d said Chloe Ryder, RSPB Sherwood Forest estates operations manager, but they could not be removed because the tree would have collapsed. She said she was \u201cdevastated\u201d by the death of a tree she used to visit as a child.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking. I\u2019m genuinely gutted it\u2019s happened in my lifetime, let alone in my tenure. I\u2019ve almost dreaded coming to see it and have that confirmation, and see no leaves on it. I still think it\u2019s one of the most beautiful trees. We call it a living museum because it\u2019s got so much to teach us, both good and bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Robin Hood with Little John. The Major oak is said to have provided a sanctuary for the outlaw and his gang when fleeing the Sheriff of Nottingham. Photograph: Print Collector\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Underground tests revealed \u201ca strangled and starved root system in total disconnect to its surrounding environment,\u201d according to Ryder, in nutrient-poor soil that was starved of microbial life. Over the past three winters, the RSPB gently excavated around the tree\u2019s roots to aerate, feed and restore their health and vitality. Although tests showed life returning to the soil, the Major oak sprouted hardly any leaves last year and has no buds or leaves this year.<\/p>\n