Rising more than 70 metres above the rainforest canopy, a giant skyscraper of a tropical tree can seem almost invincible. Some have survived centuries of storms, droughts and competition.

Large trees face a formidable engineering challenge, lifting water tens of metres from the soil to leaves high above the forest floor. A challenge which intensifies during drought.

But are giant trees uniquely vulnerable to drought or could they help forests remain resilient as temperatures rise?

Research in this area over the last decade shows there is no single way tropical forests respond to drought. In some forests large trees die disproportionately; in others they appear surprisingly resilient.

In 2015, my colleagues and I analysed how drought affected forests around the world. We found that, during drought, larger trees were more likely to die or have stunted growth than smaller trees.

It seemed logical to us. Larger trees must transport water over greater vertical distances. They are more exposed to sunlight and atmospheric demands. Their crowns sit above the canopy where temperatures are higher and conditions are harsher.

Hydraulic theory pointed in the same direction. Trees move water from roots to leaves through a continuous column under tension, like drinking through a straw. During severe drought that column can break, causing hydraulic failure and potentially tree death. In 2012, researchers showed that many tree species operate very close to the limits of their water transport systems during drought.

So, large trees look to be particularly vulnerable.

Drought in the Amazon during the warm phase of the very strong El Niño event in 2015-16 appeared to confirm the pattern. Working with colleagues across tropical South America, we measured more than half a million trees to try to understand forest responses to drought. The region’s forest has acted as a net carbon sink, by absorbing more carbon than it emits. But the sink effectively disappeared and more trees of all sizes died, with the increase greatest for the largest trees.

Interestingly, the forests most affected were not necessarily those in the wettest environments. Instead, the strongest consequences occurred in forests already growing in relatively dry conditions, particularly around the edges of the Amazon.

These forests contain tree species that routinely cope with seasonal drought. Yet they still proved highly vulnerable to extreme heat and water stress. Adaptation to regular drought doesn’t necessarily protect forests from unusually intense heat and water stress.

Trees with less dense wood were also more vulnerable, a result that matched expectations from hydraulic theory. A 2023 study demonstrated that hydraulic traits can directly predict drought mortality risk in Amazon forests.

Together these findings appeared to strengthen the case that drought vulnerability is tightly linked to the hydraulic challenges faced by large trees.

But the impacts of drought in African tropical forests told a different story during the same El Niño.

Rather than large trees suffering the most, growth declines were strongest among smaller trees. The largest trees appeared comparatively buffered from drought stress.

The contrasting responses demonstrate that not all trees or forests respond to drought in the same way. There may not be a universal link between drought and tree mortality. The major cause of death may differ among forests, in some hydraulic failure may dominate, while in others competition, carbon limitation or disturbance may be more important.

We’re no longer asking whether large trees are vulnerable, but under what conditions do they become vulnerable?

A recent study published in Nature across a rainfall gradient in Puerto Rico adds another layer. Researchers found that drought-resistance traits varied, even within species, with trees in drier forests having greater resistance to hydraulic failure.

Forest resilience may depend not only on which species are present, but also on the capacity of species to adapt to local drought conditions.

Dipterocarps are the giants of the forest. Trees in this family grow to massive sizes, have high wood density and therefore store large amounts of carbon. They often emerge high above the canopy like skyscrapers. Dipterocarps dominate many Southeast Asian forests and include some of the tallest tropical trees on Earth. Measuring them is extraordinarily difficult.

Having worked in these forests in Borneo, I know how hard these trees are to study. The terrain is steep, the trees enormous and often buttressed. Making physiological measurements throughout trees so tall is an extraordinary achievement.

A recent study found that these giant trees appear able to compensate for the hydraulic challenge of height through anatomical and physiological adjustments, maintaining hydraulic function despite their great size.

Size might not be everything

The findings suggest that, in these forests, size alone does not necessarily increase drought vulnerability.

One implication is that size itself may not drive vulnerability. Instead, size may simply be a proxy for exposure to brighter, hotter and drier canopy conditions.

In many studies, large trees are more vulnerable because they experience these harsher conditions. But if a species or individual tree can compensate physiologically, as dipterocarps on the island of Borneo appear able to, the relationship between size and vulnerability becomes more complicated.

Truly giant trees are rare. Surprisingly little is still known about them.

In most long-term forest inventory plots, the largest trees are only a handful of stems. The so-called large trees in many datasets are often much smaller than the skyscraper trees found in places such as Borneo.

Are dipterocarps exceptional? Or have we simply under-sampled resilience among giant trees globally? At the moment, scientists don’t know.

What is becoming clearer is that there is no single rule to predict the drought responses of forests.

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Sarah Thew Photography, in Shotley Bridge, moved into premises on Front Street earlier this year, giving the business a permanent home after she began her career working from her house.

The 49-year-old, who has 25 years’ experience in the photography industry, said the unit had always been the one she wanted.

“I originally worked from home and then moved into a studio, but this unit was the one I always wanted,” said Sarah, who lives in Prudhoe, Northumberland.

(Image: SARAH THEW PHOTOGRAPHY)

“Then the shop kept popping up on Facebook, so I went and had a look and signed the lease there and then.”

Sarah specialises in newborn photography, creating calm, baby-led shoots designed to capture those fleeting early days.

(Image: SARAH THEW PHOTOGRAPHY)

Photographer Dana Cartmell takes care of older children and family sessions, while Sarah’s daughter Jessie works as the studio manager.

“A lot of people have sent me messages and some of the locals have stuck their head in the door to welcome us,” said mum-of-two Sarah.

(Image: SARAH THEW PHOTOGRAPHY)

Sarah said she finds the newborn shoots to be a rewarding job.

“I’m very busy with appointments but the actual shoot is relaxed, slow and baby-led, she said.

“It’s a rewarding job, you’ve just got to take your time with them.

“When parents come in they all think their baby is going to be upset and cry but it’s very, very unlikely.”

Sarah’s services have received glowing reviews on Google, with one person saying: “Absolutely amazing experience with Sarah Thew Photography.

“Sarah was brilliant with my newborn – a true baby whisperer.

“She made us feel so comfortable and handled our little one with such care and patience.

“The photos turned out beautifully and captured such special moments.

(Image: SARAH THEW PHOTOGRAPHY)

“Highly recommend to any new parents looking for stunning, professional newborn photography.”

The studio’s opening hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 10am to 5pm.

The team will soon be opening on a Saturday as well, when they begin their Christmas shoots, which include Santa’s post office and the Grinch.

The studio can be found at 8 Front Street, Shotley Bridge, Consett DH80HH.

“It’s been a bit of a pilgrimage,” said Carolynne Frost, from Shepparton in Victoria. “I just feel it is important for my family to understand what he did.”

Carolynne Frost, from Victoria in Australia, visiting the Echo’s former office in Priestgate, Darlington, where her great-great-grandfather started the paper in 1870

Bell’s legacy

John Hyslop Bell, a Scotsman from Dumfries, was invited to Darlington in 1869 by the Pease family, who for several years had endured virulent attacks from the weekly newspaper, the Darlington & Stockton Times, which was owned by their implacable opponent, Henry King Spark.

John Hyslop Bell, the founding proprietor of The Northern Echo

The Peases tasked Mr Bell with setting up a daily regional newspaper that would blow the little local weekly out of the water.

Mr Bell was one of the leading newspapermen in the North East, having worked as a Parliamentary reporter in London in his youth before joining a paper in Sunderland in 1855. It had merged with other Liberal papers to form the South Durham & Cleveland Mercury, based in Hartlepool, which he edited and co-owned.

This experience was vital to the Peases, as was his politics – they wanted their new paper to promote their Liberal views.

The corner of Priestgate and Crown Street in Darlington where Mr Bell set up the Echo in a former boot and shoelace factory

Mr Bell set the paper up in an old boot and shoe lace factory on the corner of Priestgate and Crown Street, publishing its first edition on January 1, 1870.

Stead on board

His biggest move, though, came in April 1871 when he discovered a 22-year-old from Embleton with a moral fire burning in his belly and he appointed him as the paper’s second editor. This was WT Stead, whose frenetic energy made the new paper the voice of the Durham coalfield and gave it an international reputation – the government of Bulgaria passed a vote of thanks to it.

William Thomas Stead.

Stead went on to, in controversial circumstances, play a major role in getting the 1885 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act passed which raised the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16 and is regarded as the world’s first child protection piece of legislation. Stead, of course, was the most famous British person to die when the Titanic went down in 1912 as he was sailing to New York to address a peace conference with the US president.

The former shoelace factory in Priestgate, Darlington, in which the Echo was first published on January 1, 1870

It is through Stead that we learn that Mr Bell was more than just the proprietor of the paper in its early days.

End of an era

Bell remained in charge of the paper until he suddenly quit in 1889, probably because the Peases, like the Liberal Party, were bitterly divided over Irish Home Rule.

He then seems to have fallen on hard times because in 1894 an appeal went out to Liberals to raise £3,000 (worth about £350,000 in today’s values, according to the Bank of England’s Inflation Calculator) for him in recognition of his services to the party.

Many leading Liberals, including the Peases, donated, spurred on by Stead, who wrote a long piece in his magazine, the Review of Reviews, about Mr Bell’s attributes.

Stead said that Mr Bell “never forgot that a newspaper, even though a little one, must be a fighter”.

He said: “Mr Bell has always used his pen and his paper to promote the cause of labour, the cause of peace, and the case of woman.” (This must refer to how, in its earliest editions, the Echo supported women getting the vote in Parliamentary elections.)

And Stead added: “True to his creed, Mr Bell refused to make his newspaper a tout for the tipster and the gambler, and for many years The Northern Echo shared with the Leeds Mercury the distinction of being the only organs which refused to publish the odds on the racecourse.”

John Hyslop Bell, founder and proprietor of The Northern Echo from 1869 to 1889. The maiden name of his mother, Margaret, was Hyslop

Later years

After giving up on newspapers, Mr Bell and his wife, Alice, and their six children, lived in Seaton Carew where he became a Justice of the Peace.

In 1894, he toured India on behalf of the Purity Association advocating against prostitution, and in 1897 he returned and become the coroner for Stockton. This led to him in 1914 conducting the inquests into the 138 people killed when three German warships unexpectedly bombed Hartlepool at the start of the First World War.

Bombardment of Hartlepool – bombed buildings in 1914.

Mr Bell retired in 1919 and died, aged 88, in his home – called St Fillians – in Stockton. He was buried in Darlington’s West Cemetery, and Carolynne, his great-great-grand-daughter, visited his grave.

She also went in search of his son, her great-grandfather, Ernest Hyslop Bell, who is also buried there.

Carolynne Frost, from Victoria in Australia, visiting the Echo’s former office in Priestgate, Darlington, where her great-grea-grandfather started the paper in 1870

Ernest was born in Darlington in 1875. He attended Barnard Castle School (Carolynne went for a look at that) but really rose to prominence in the 1920s due to a legal case that is still discussed today.

Ernest was a senior figure in Barclays Bank which, in 1923, invested in Lever Brothers to help the soap manufacturers start buying palm oil from Nigeria. Ernest left the bank to head up the new operation which quickly diversified into wider trading.

In 1929, Lever Brothers (now called Unilever) merged their African operations and offered Ernest a massive £30,000 “golden parachute” to leave.

However, the company then discovered that Ernest had been privately speculating in a cocoa cartel in Nigeria – a line of trade Levers were also involved in – and so withdrew the parachute.

The case came to court, Ernest arguing that he would never have invested his own money in this way if he knew Levers would object, and Levers counter-arguing that his cartel could have been operating against their interests.

Eventually, in 1931, the House of Lords decided that Ernest was due his money. Today, Bell v Lever Bros is still regarded as an important contract law case that helps define the concept of “common mistake”.

With his settlement, Ernest bought an agricultural estate in Suffolk.

He died in Kirkbymoorside in 1941 and was buried in West Cemetery.

His son, John, served on minesweepers in the Second World War and then, in 1949, emigrated to Australia, taking his nine-year-old son, Antony, with him.

Antony, now 88, is Carolynne’s father, and she will be reporting her findings from Durham back to him.

At least one mystery remains. In Ernest’s later years, after his first wife had died, he remarried Clarissa Hogg, who was much younger than him. They didn’t have any children and, after more than 60 years as a widow, she is believed to have died in Darlington as recently as 2006 – can anyone tell us anything about her?

ANOTHER mystery: where was John Hyslop Bell’s house in Stockton? His obituary says it was called “St Fillians” but, knowing what journalists are like when it comes to accuracy, it could have been “St Fillans”.

Fillan was a 6th Century Irish missionary who travelled to Scotland to convert the heathens to Christianity. He became known as St Fillan the Stammerer and today there is a village called St Fillans on the banks of Loch Earn in Perthshire.

Is this how Mr Bell’s Stockton home got its name?

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Boots is the go-to health and beauty retailer for everything, it always has been, I’ll be honest. But over the years, Boots has got even bigger and better. The retailer stocks a plethora of beauty brands, across K-Beauty, bestselling labels and viral sensations, and the list is ever expanding.  

Now, Boots has heard our cries for the hottest beauty products and gone one step further, as it has curated an unmissable limited edition beauty box. Boots has previously launched a Holiday Beauty Bundle, as well as a Festival Kit, but this summer brings the Trending Beauty Box, which is filled with the cult beauty products of the moment – hence the name.

The Trending Beauty Box is filled with the top 10 trending beauty products, which you can purchase separately at Boots, if you can get your hands on them. This is, quite frankly, genius, because it makes it easier to secure all of the popular products an absolute breeze. 

Boots Trending Beauty Box

The 10-piece edit is filled with seven full-size beauty products and three miniature versions, which are trending right now.

The contents include make-up, skincare, haircare, SPF and fragrance products from a variety of brands, all stocked from Boots.

Better yet? The full contents is worth over £191. 

Buy Now for £45 (WORTH £191.71) – SAVE £146.71

The Boots Trending Box includes seven full-size products, as well as three miniature samples, across haircare, skincare, SPF, fragrance and make-up. The contents ranges from Colour Wow’s Money Mist, MILK Makeup Cooling Water Jelly Tint Blush and Glow For It Lash Growth Serum to haruharu wonder Black Rice Moisture 5.5 Soft Cleansing Gel, which is one of my personal favourites, plus much more. 

The full contents would cost over £191 if each item was purchased separately. However, Boots is selling this edit for £45, which makes an almighty saving of £146. So, technically you could purchase four boxes and have change!

Boots often launches a limited edition beauty box, which are exclusively available online. But, this means when they sell out, they won’t be restocked. So savvy beauty buffs, shop quickly so not to miss out. 

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The building was once used as a children’s care home and elderly care home

A grand building that was once a care home could become a new SEN school. Westward House in Bury Road, Ramsey, has stood in its location since the Victorian period. In its past, it has been used as a children’s home and a care home for the elderly. Now, Aspris Children’s Services Limited has proposed to turn the building into a SEN day school.

The company, which doesn’t yet own the building, also seeks to build a single storey extension at the back, make alterations to the existing two-storey rear extension, add additional car parking, new landscaping and also recreation areas. The applicants said if approved, the plans will “secure the long-term future of a valued listed building”. It would also “deliver significant social, educational and community benefits”.

The applicant added: “The proposed change of use to an SEN school directly benefits the local community by providing vital educational infrastructure. It sensitively builds upon the site’s historical legacy of care and child-centric provision.”

Most of the internal floor area inside the building is to remain mostly the same. Works to the original house will be “strictly minimal”. For the rear extension, the internal layout will also be designed to “create highly supervised, adaptable classrooms that meet current SEN standards”.

The rear extension is also proposed to “respect the scale of the original Victorian dwelling”. As part of the recreation part of the plans, a multi-use games area is proposed. This will be linked via a path to the back of the building.

An existing driveway will be used to access the building, but there will be changes made to “improve safety and accessibility”. Dedicated parking spaces for staff, visitors and accessible vehicles are also proposed within the site boundary.

It’s unknown how many pupils the school could accommodate. Applicants Aspris Children’s Services Limited operate a number of schools across the country for children with autism. The schools have “small class sizes, consistent routines and expert staff to form a calm atmosphere where learners can build confidence, grow in independence and prepare for adulthood”.

If approved, this new school will create a “highly structured, low-arousal environment where young people with autism will flourish both academically and emotionally.”

Meghan Markle’s return to acting has reportedly been ‘cancelled’ amid critism over plans to cast her in the third season of The Gentlemen.

Royal author Tina Brown claimed last night that an offer for the Duchess of Sussex to appear in Guy Ritchie’s hit Netflix show had been withdrawn after the reaction in Britain became too ‘intense’.

Ms Brown said: ‘I learned that the casting of Meghan Markle has been withdrawn. The backlash was so intense it became untenable to go forward.’

In her ‘Fresh Hell’ Substack newsletter, the author wrote: ‘This does not bode well for Meghan’s acting comeback.’

Just four years ago, Meghan insisted she had no plans to return to acting. In 2022, she told Variety magazine: ‘I’m done. I guess never say never but my intention is to absolutely not.’

Now, however, her return to the screen has been touted by sources ‘close to the duchess’ as one of the reasons she and Prince Harry are returning to Britain.

But commentators have suggested that any acting role for Meghan and a subsequent return to the spotlight could be problematic both for the Sussexes and the Royal Family in general.

Baroness Wheatcroft, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said: ‘The first thing any actress wants is publicity and Meghan may be a good actress. She is certainly going to be offered roles but she has to be very careful when the inevitable interviews come along not to embarrass the royals.’

In 2022, Meghan said she had no plans to return to acting, however, earlier this week sources close to her said she was in ‘advance discussions’ to star in season three of the hit show

Before marrying Harry, Meghan enjoyed a successful seven-season run as Rachel Zane in the legal drama Suits. She reportedly earned around $40,000 per episode by the time her final episode aired in April 2018 – just one month before she walked down the aisle at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.

Meghan has a small cameo in the upcoming film Close Personal Friends, starring Brie Larson and Lily Collins. But a source connected with the project described the appearance to The Mail on Sunday as little more than fleeting. A role in Ritchie’s The Gentlemen would have marked a far more significant return to acting.

Netflix declined to comment while a spokesman for the duchess refused to confirm or deny that the offer had been withdrawn.

The possibility of Meghan appearing in the show emerged last week with sources claiming she was in ‘advanced discussions’ about joining the third season.

The Gentleman, based on Ritchie’s 2019 film of the same name, follows an English aristocrat who discovers that the estate he has inherited conceals a lucrative marijuana-growing operation.

The second season arrives on Netflix next month.

Reports that Ritchie was considering creating a role for Meghan were met with an immediate torrent of online criticism.

On Netflix’s Instagram account for The Gentlemen, one viewer warned: ‘If Guy Ritchie hires Markle to go on Season 3, his ratings will drop fast.’

Another wrote: ‘Many will boycott The Gentlemen if MM is in the cast. I loved the series but cannot watch the new series if she is in it.’

Others said they would refuse to watch the programme ‘out of principle’, citing anger over Meghan’s claims about her treatment by the Royal Family.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Meghan and Harry intended to move from the US to Britain with their children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five 

Meghan’s best-known acting role is as Rachel Zane in the legal television drama Suits. (Pictured here with co-star Patrick J Adams)

A source at Disney studios told the MoS: ‘Every so often people around [Hollywood] get calls about whether there are any gigs for Meghan but she’s a polarising choice… She’s not someone I would want in one of my shows because you’re alienating a large part of your audience before you shoot a single frame.’

Ms Brown believes the duchess may have become too toxic for mainstream TV roles.

The author of The Diana Chronicles and The Palace Papers told the MoS: ‘The backlash was too intense for Ritchie to proceed.’

Meghan and Harry signed a $100million five-year deal with Netflix in 2020, but that lapsed last year with the streaming giant declining to renew it. Their Harry & Meghan docuseries was the most-viewed in Netflix history, but subsequent projects failed. The lifestyle show ‘With Love, Meghan’ attracted mixed reviews and was not renewed, while Harry’s ‘Polo’ series was a flop.

But the MoS has learned that Meghan could find success in the theatre. Mark Borkowski, a West End PR expert, said: ‘I’ve had two West End managements calling me up for a PR view on if they should approach Meghan… They were asking if she would sell tickets and I told them absolutely.’

The pancakes were great value at £12.50

I’ve been to Cambridge for work many times, but I’ve never been as a tourist. So when I took a trip to the city with the intention of being a tourist for the day, I made it my mission to tick off as many items on my ‘Cambridge bucket list’ as I could.

One of thos activities involved indulging in some sweet and sticky pancakes from Hot Numbers. I had a big day planned – including my first punting trip, having a drink in Byron’s Bear and taking a stroll next to the River Cam. But I began my day by fuelling up with some good food.

There are two Hot Numbers branches in Cambridge, one on Trumpington Street and the other on Gwydir Street. We visited the one in Trumpington Street. I was told that Hot Numbers offers some of the ‘finest specialty coffee’ in Cambridge. We arrived and the whole place was practically filled – it’s a good thing we’d book a table.

We got seated in a cosy corner of the outside area. There was a lot on offer on the menu, with both sweet and savoury options, and as expected, a large range of coffees. I went for the stroopwaffle and strawberry pancakes which came with stroopwafel, fresh strawberries, dark chocolate soil, cinnamon syrup and vanilla mascarpone cream.

For my drink, I chose an iced coffee with honey. I’d usually go for vanilla, but in the absence of this flavouring, the honey satisfied my sweet tooth. And I have to say the coffee lived up to the hype. It was refreshing and not too strong – just the way I like it.

The pancakes arrived and they looked too pretty to eat. The chocolate soil was scattered neatly across my plate, with the pancakes stacked on top of each other. They were daubed in syrup and the fresh strawberries brightened up my plate. I tried some of the stroopwaffle first, which was soft, delightfully sticky, and sweet.

I cut into the pancakes next, and immediately I could see how fluffy they were. Strawberries, chocolate and syrup are elite pancake toppings in my rankings, so I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed. Altogether it was a sweet extravaganza and I didn’t want it to end. For £12.50, I felt satisfied, and rather full.

I’m all too aware of how high the food prices can be in Cambridge, but for a city centre sweet treat, I felt like I really got my money’s worth. If you find yourself craving something sweet next time you’re in the city, Hot Numbers may make a good pit stop.

All of our food reviews are paid for by the writer. The establishments do not know we will be reviewing their food, allowing us to make fair judgements on each place.

By NICHOLAS PYKE

Published: 23:03 BST, 22 August 2026 | Updated: 05:57 BST, 23 August 2026