A massive ancient oak tree linked to the legend of Robin Hood may have been loved to death.
The 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is believed to have died after it did not sprout leaves this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said Thursday.
Visitors who viewed the tree’s gnarled limbs and sprawling canopy in Nottingham over the past two centuries compressed the soil around it, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots, the conservation group said.
The forest has been under threat for years and the tree had been rumoured to have died in the past – only to have the group confirm it was still alive.
That was no longer the case.
“The tree’s failure to produce leaves this year is heart-breaking for everyone,” Hollie Drake of the RSPB said in a statement announcing the death.
