MARK KERRISON | Photojournalist

Offchurch, UK. 24th August, 2020. Anti-HS2 activists occupy the three last remaining mature oak trees on a long section of the Fosse Way - a notable Roman road - in Warwickshire in order to try to prevent their destruction during works connected to the HS2 high-speed rail link. Another activist occupied a trailer being used to transport wood chip for the same purpose. Officers from Warwickshire Police took a measured approach to facilitating the activists' protest. Late in the afternoon, one activist agreed to climb down from the largest oak tree, believed to be more than three hundred years old, which was then swiftly felled from the base by a HS2 worker. Similarly, another activist agreed to leave the wood chip trailer voluntarily late in the afternoon. No arrests were made by Warwickshire Police. At the end of the afternoon, two large oak trees were remaining. I observed voles running around the site of the felled oak tree when the road was cleared soon after. The controversial HS2 high-speed rail project is currently expected to cost £106bn and will destroy or significantly impact many irreplaceable natural habitats, including 108 ancient woodlands.