Puzzling Pictures 5: A Sad Site

No, it isn't a spelling mistake. A young tree, planted relatively recently, then uprooted by the wild winds of winter, might be said to be a sad sight. But when I paused on my walk from Crown Point to Clowbridge and looked round the plantation where it lay, I concluded that there was something sad about the site itself, up there on the edge of the moors.

I wonder whether you can work out what it was? There is a clue in the photograph, between the wooden stake and the trunk of the tree.

Answer coming soon!