The Human Tree
A landscape photography blog by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire based landscape photographer Rob Thorley Photography.
Christmas is over and it’s the lull between the New Year. The wife was working today (27th December), so with a bit of time on my hands I decided to go and do some exploring.
Weather wise It was a bit of a drab day so I left the main camera at home, and just took my mobile phone. The plan today was to go and find the “Human Tree”, also known as the “Groot Tree” at Cannock Chase. I’d had my eye on this one for a while but didn’t know exactly where it was located. Rather than trying to find it in the dark when there were more favourable conditions I decided today was the day to find it.
A bit of research on Google maps, and various Facebook groups led me to Punchbowl car park as the starting point for my exploration. I’m happy to say that it was one of those days where the planning paid off. The tree itself is roughly somewhere between the stepping stones and I’ll call it the lower edge of Brocton Coppice. A gentle 10 - 15 minutes stroll, and a little bit of searching and it was job done.
You’ll have to excuse the quality of the images for this blog post as they were taken on my old iPhone XR, so they aren’t the best.
I look forward to visiting again when the conditions are more favourable. Hopefully there’ll be some mist and fog soon, so I can return and do this tree some justice.
UPDATE: As I write this post (January 2024) I notice the pin on Google maps for the “Human Tree” has disappeared. I suspect a request to delete the marker has been made as it was looking like the location was becoming very popular. I guess it doesn’t take too many people to impact the landscape, and given what took place at Sycamore Gap last year it’s possibly the right thing to do. That said for anyone who really wants to see this magnificent tree even without the pin a bit of research will soon get you there.
You can view more images from Cannock Chase, and my gallery of other nature subjects.
