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Thursday 27 February 2014

Returning to the scene of the crime - Take 2 - Thematic Photography

I hope you studied the crime scene well. Just to remind you this is what it looked like.



Of clues there are plenty

  • The pole is leaning towards the fence
  • The yellow tape identifies it as electrical. a street light perhaps
If we move in closer:


  • No impact marks on the pole
  • Tyre marks in the mud
  • But traffic goes by left to right, the pole slopes in the opposite direction
  • Broken tree branches in front and behind the pole.
  • What is the time frame involved?
  • An eyewitness saw a council wagon early on Monday morning on the opposite side of the road attending to this.

Has the culprit got its comeuppance?

It's dangerous to jump to conclusions. There may even be an element(ary) explanation.

It was a dark and stormy night (I've always wanted to start a story with those words) on Sunday
The wind becomes the prime suspect.

You mind not be so sure if you knew this winter had been the wettest in England and Wales since 1766. The roots of the tree could have been badly loosened.

Broken Roots
However there is yet another suspect which enters the frame. Have the roots been fatally attacked. The centre of the tree trunk was rotting.

Rotting trunk (center of cut end)
It might even be the green ivy that started the chain of events.

No matter what we decide, the streetlight can be replace and a tree replanted. A comparatively short time to replace the light but it will take at least 150 years for a tree to reach the size of the one that was lost.

As usual you can find the answers to other photographic puzzles at Carmi's place

3 comments:

Gilly said...

Great series, Bob! Yes, I can imagine you had a few trees down - we are just very wet!

Sorry, mine isn't a crime!!

carmilevy said...

I love how you walked us through this, Bob. So sad to see a great tree meet its end. I know 150 years is a mere blink to the planet. But it isn't to us, and I always feel a little morose when we lose a grand old tree.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob .. this was a great read - and like the others - your walk through was fun to think about ...

So many trees have come down this year .. ours here was rotten, thankfully it missed my car and the flats .. but if the other comes down - that will be different. Someone said they'd checked it out and it's healthier!

Now when I see a situation .. I'll be wondering what's going on! Cheers Hilary