Great Missenden, UK. 9th April, 2021. A HS2 security contractor guards a fenced area on Leather Lane where several hundred-year-old oak trees have been felled to enable the construction of a temporary access road and compound for the HS2 high-speed rail link. Following pressure from local residents (over 40,000 people signed a petition to save the trees), Buckinghamshire Council and the Chilterns Conservation Board, it appears that HS2’s plans have been changed in such a way as to preserve some of the trees along the wildlife-rich ancient country lane.