108,000 signatures calling on Downing Street to save the Darwin Oak

Campaigners behind a bid to save a 550-year-old tree, dubbed the "Darwin Oak", have recently delivered a petition, with a whopping 108,000 signatures, to Downing Street.

The tree, a stone's throw to where Charles Darwin was born, in 1809 in Shrewsbury, could be under threat, as it stands on the proposed route of the North West Relief Road.

Campaigners were joined by members of the Notice This Tree group and Jack Taylor from the Woodland Trust which has put the oak on the Tree of the Year shortlist. They also met with the MP Julia Buckley.

Rob McBride, who started the petition said, "It's our kids' future, the planet, the climate emergency we’re in", as Shropshire Council pledged to plant 84 saplings to replace nine ancient oaks earmarked for felling. "We can't just go willy nilly taking out large, open canopy trees that sequester the carbon," he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"We need every soldier tree… in the fight against climate change."

Read more about it in this BBC report and Shropshire Star article.