And another one: Tony at Harmless Sky has the story of Aber Artro Beech Woods. The Countryside Comission for Wales decided that the woods, which were owned by the Woodland Trust, were actually oak woods, despite the vast majority of the land being covered in beech. The Trust has now started to chop the woods down. Very obedient.

Now this is interesting, because the Woodland Trust has been fingered as a Fake Charity, although they have gone to the trouble of denying this, pointing out that only 13% of their funding comes from the state. Given the evidence from Tony N though, 13% seems to be quite enough to get them to do as they are told.

So despite their protestations, it does look very much as if they are indeed a fake.

(As an aside, the Woodland Trust also cleared a wood near me a year or so back. Living as I do in an area of few woods, this was a pity. The trees had all grown up on a raised peat bog, so I think they probably had a reasonable case that they were restoring what was there before, but all the same, it's odd to find a body ostensibly dedicated to looking after trees spending their time chopping them down.)