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Paul Powlesland

@paulpowlesland50k followers

Rights of nature campaigner, Barrister & guardian of the River Roding. I love protecting trees & restoring rivers. Founder @lawfornature.

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1Jul 3, '25I recently got stopped & ticketed by the City of London Police for, & I kid you not, “cycling no handed”. Even though it’s clearly not an offence, the officer said they were ticket224×4.3M19k3.3k1.5k
2Feb 28, '23So, I find myself 30ft in the air up a tree in Wellingborough- surrounded by police, security & tree surgeons- trying to prevent an illegal tree felling. How did I end up here?180×3.5M18k4.6k626
3May 6, '23Republican protesters near Trafalgar Square being told by a Met Police officer that they may be arrested for public nuisance for chanting “Not My King”150×2.9M7.8k3.5k250
4Jul 25, '24Just returned from a 5 day pilgrimage, walking from London to Canterbury with no money, tent, phone, or much of a plan other than to keep walking until I got there. It was a hard b129×2.5M16k5892.7k
5May 4, '23Hi Met Police, just checking whether peacefully holding a sign saying “Not My King” out of the processional route but within the crowd counts as “undermining this celebration”. If 115×2.2M8.6k1.2k73
6Apr 7, '24Destruction of a precious ancient bluebell woodland in the Kent countryside under a deluge of illegal landfill waste shows the utter failure of environmental law, complete inaction68.8×1.3M6k2.3k517
7May 9, '24Just found an urban fox trying to cross the road in Barking but clearly scared by heavy traffic. I pressed the pedestrian crossing button for them & they then crossed over effo66.6×1.3M14k912573
9May 6, '23Just when you think today can’t get any weirder, uniformed Met Police officers are handing out coronation merchandise to the crowd, with the Met Police logo next to Charles’ corona62.3×1.2M9.6k1.8k110
10Sep 12, '22Just went to Parliament Square & held up a blank piece of paper. Officer came & asked for my details. He confirmed that if I wrote “Not My King” on it, he would arrest me u44.1×047k11k1.2k
11Jul 18, '24Chaotic scenes as a prison van carrying some of the ‘Truth Telling 5’ @JustStop_Oil activists leaves Southwark Crown Court, after being sentenced to the longest prison terms (4 to 38×733k4.5k1.6k143
12Jul 12, '24A turd in the hand is worth… billions in profits! As OFWAT allows massive bill rises to reward @thameswater’s continued failure, here’s what my experience of standing in a river fu37.2×718k3k960270
13Feb 27, '24Can we please have a ‘Grand Designs’ style show following the efforts to rebuild the Crooked House, where the owners who unlawfully demolished slowly discover with horror how much 36.6×706k10k898229
14Jul 18, '24Both of the actions you see in these photos potentially amount to the offence of ‘public nuisance’. One is punishable with “long, long prison sentences” & the other is rewarded33.5×646k9.2k3.8k134
15Aug 27, '24I like having a project on holiday, so this month I took on the restoration of a Victorian reservoir on the Scottish island I was staying on, hoping to create both a new swimming s28.3×545k3k165301
16Mar 1, '23My bail conditions from @NorthantsPolice now forbid me from climbing any tree in Northamptonshire, so I was so pleased this morning to wake up to the news that another tree protect27.1×523k7.2k1.1k27
17Jul 6, '25A reminder that we cannot have this in London, not only because the Thames is too polluted, but also because we have left the tidal Thames in the sole hands of an unaccountable leg27×520k6.4k1k524
18Apr 11, '25Very disturbing reports today that a nationally significant ancient oak (over 6 metres in circumference) was felled in Whitewebbs Park in Tottenham. The facts are still not clear a26.9×519k2.3k77185
19Sep 9, '25Whilst I’ve always appreciated the vast curved caverns of the Elizabeth Line aesthetically, they’ve always seemed hugely oversized for the numbers using it that I’ve seen. Until to26.7×515k4.5k229239
20Jun 11, '25I was on my boat late last night & thought I heard a scrabbling noise coming from outside. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye & looked up to see a fox had come through my o25.8×498k14k990446
21Jan 26, '25On Thursday night I looked out of my boat & knew immediately that something was wrong on the River Roding. The moon was glimmering off the water in a strange way I hadn’t seen befo24.9×481k3.4k756283
22Aug 9, '25Congratulations to @metpoliceuk on setting a new record for the most number of arrests from a single protest today. Fabulous work protecting Londoners from the dangers of cardboard24.3×469k13k2.5k219
23Nov 12, '25Leaving aside the nasty bullying attitude of these plastic patriots, what really annoys me with these videos is the way they quote the ‘law’ to intimidate polite & law abiding loca23.8×460k5.4k598485
24Aug 12, '23Let there be life! Pleased to report my experiment to find a cheap way to naturalise hard river edges in urban areas appears to be successful. Last winter I coppiced long willow br22.7×437k4.4k499137
25Apr 15, '25It’s now confirmed that Toby Carvery did indeed fell the Whitewebbs Oak, on the same day that evidence is emerging the tree may have been 500 years old. The lame excuse they gave t22.2×428k5.1k1.6k237
26Aug 22, '24A pilgrimage to the edge of the world. I had heard of the holy island of Iona as a sacred place where the veil between heaven & earth is said to be thin. On a visit to the Western 20.3×392k2.8k276600
27May 2, '23Out on the River Roding yesterday I discovered what these spill statistics mean in reality. A cascade of sun bleached wet wipes & sanitary towels strewn down the bank of the Ro19.9×384k2.9k1.6k15
28Apr 27, '23I’ve never encountered a more perfect example of how screwed up our conversation about land access & responsibility is, & how leniently we view environmental crime by lando17.3×335k1.8k70244
29May 6, '23Looks like we have our answer. Any burglars in London, today is your day! The Met Police are far too busy unlawfully confiscating placards with ‘Not My King’ written on them so Cha15.3×296k3k1k17
30Mar 24, '23Proud to join over 100 other lawyers in signing a declaration of conscience withholding our services from supporting new fossil fuel projects & prosecuting peaceful climate pro15.1×291k3k86042
31Sep 21, '24It’s hard to imagine a more shameful indictment of our sewage crisis than what I witnessed on the River Avon this afternoon. A flock of swans & ducks feeding & cavorting in a plume14.7×284k3.8k2k79
32May 31, '24One of the best publicly-accesible rewilding sites in London is due to be enclosed & destroyed for artificial pitches for @SpursOfficial. I visited Whitewebbs Park in Enfield t14.5×280k1.5k68562
34May 7, '23My mistake! Thanks to all the police officers in the comments for pointing out it is in fact a City of London Police Officer threatening to arrest people for something that is not 13.6×262k2.3k44721
35Oct 21, '23The juxtaposition of this flood & the new builds under construction almost perfectly illustrates why the Yimby ‘build, build, build’ fantasy that we can indefinitely build thin13.1×253k2.1k74545
36May 8, '23Absolutely textbook case of why granting the police sweeping new powers is a bad idea. Met Police now trying to justify their arrests of peaceful & law abiding republican activ13×251k2k49515
38Jun 20, '24Incredible moves from Just Stop Oil: doing a non-damaging action yesterday that made swathes of people say “what has Stonehenge got to do with climate” & then the very next day12.7×244k3.9k39185
39Dec 24, '24What can you give to a river that needs everything? This Christmas I decided to give my river the gift of life, in the form of willows trees. I headed out on the River Roding in my12.2×236k2.6k407157
40Mar 3, '23Absolutely delighted to announce that the tree felling in Wellingborough has been suspended & the developer has agreed to a public consultation on its plans which will include 12.2×235k5.4k71511
41Nov 19, '24I’m struggling to comprehend the arrogance involved in making yourself the figurehead of a movement & then not preparing even a vaguely convincing answer to what must be a cand12.1×233k6.7k63291
43Nov 17, '23So Suella Braverman is now apparently advocating to suspend habeas corpus to make her beloved Rwanda plan work. This means that *anyone* could be nabbed from the streets by the Hom12×232k1.6k78669
44Nov 3, '24Tens of thousands of people came from rivers & seas across the country to march through London in the biggest water demonstration in UK history. It was so large that people were st11.9×230k5.8k2k64
45Mar 24, '23If refusing to use my professional skills to assist new fossil fuel extraction projects- which will lead to great destruction & loss of life around the world- makes me a “hobbi10.3×200k1.9k29515
46Mar 29, '23Judicial persecution of climate protesters descends into farce. On Tuesday, Trudi Warner will be tried for contempt for silently holding this sign on a public highway outside court10.3×199k1.6k74047
48Sep 27, '24Another ludicrous sentence. Judge Hehir is clearly putting in real effort to be remembered as the Judge Jeffreys of the era of climate collapse. It’s another stark reminder that if10.3×199k1.9k47647
49Sep 10, '25It’s a testament to both the incompetency & petty authoritarianism of @HMCTSgovuk that they destroyed one of the most valuable artworks they own, but they did it so badly that you 10.0×193k6.8k1.6k258
50Jul 10, '25“Oi, have you got a licence for that pond?” The Environment Agency have now taken time out of their busy schedule of ignoring environmental crime to pay me a visit & threaten me wi9.3×179k2.8k62976
52Jun 20, '23And there we have it- a full admission & apology that Sheffield City Council were completely in the wrong over the tree felling saga. This doesn’t, of course, bring the trees b9.0×173k1.4k48222
53Nov 21, '22“Before landscapes die, they first vanish in the imagination”. This is the story of a small brook on the outskirts of London, the Aldersbrook, which has survived against the odds, 8.9×011k1.7k931
54Apr 3, '23I’ve spent the winter taking cuttings from some of the rarest clones of the rare native black poplar tree & transporting them to their new home on the River Roding by backpack,8.5×164k2.3k21916
55Oct 3, '23Noticing the officer from @gmpolice laying hands on @AndrewBoff here. At a loss to think what offence they reasonably think Andrew could have committed to justify this? Or are the 8.3×160k1.2k30415
58Feb 1, '23There's something wonderfully subversive about taking tree cuttings to their new home by Tube. Here, the UK's rarest native tree, the black poplar, travelling on the District Line 7.9×152k2.4k22927
65Jun 22, '24Hard to convey scale of Restore Nature Now march today; crowds stretching as far as the eye could see through London. It not only signals importance of nature as a political issue,6.9×133k3.5k1.1k48
66Sep 29, '23The outpouring of grief, sadness & anger about the felling of Sycamore Gap Tree shows the strength of love & care many British people feel for our trees. Here’s why we shou6.7×129k2k43747
67Jul 30, '24I’m doing jury service & today I became the first person ever in England (I think!) to swear a legal oath on a river. With my fingers dipped in water taken from the Roding I stated6.2×119k1.4k281104
69Sep 25, '23Well that escalated quickly! From one person threatened with prison for holding a sign with the law on it, to 24 holding the same sign this summer, to 240 people across the country6.0×115k1.3k39416
70Apr 8, '23The magic of spending time alone in nature. After a full day walking the River Roding, I found an ancient hornbeam wood to camp in. I put my bag down & spent a few minutes sitt5.9×114k1.3k9912
71Jan 25, '25More than anything else, I feel like Rachel Reeve’s answer to the first question below reveals both the intellectual vacuity & utter soulessness at the heart of the current governm5.6×107k1.5k282103
72Sep 24, '23Six months later @NorthantsPolice admit that there is no realistic prospect of convicting me for my tree-saving protest. Their reaction to this protest & the way they disregard5.4×104k1.4k39622
73Nov 4, '25Labour give so little of a shit about British wildlife that not only did they not support the absolute no-brainer of installing swift bricks on new build homes, they actively whipp5.4×104k3.2k1.1k78
74Aug 10, '23After a court hearing today I couldn’t wait to get out on my work raft in the rare late afternoon summer sunshine & cool off in the Roding whilst also showing the river some lo5.0×96k1.3k1278
75Aug 9, '25Maybe next time I get burgled I should tell them the thief left a placard supporting Palestine Action at the scene: they might actually turn up & investigate it then?4.9×95k4.5k59742
77May 6, '23Safety in numbers: some groups of Republican protesters have been able to gather & express their opinion, but the official Republic demo, with a programme of speeches & tal4.6×89k1.4k6408
78Oct 2, '24A developer wants to destroy one of the last remaining riverside meadows beside the Roding in London. 11 acres of rapidly rewilding meadow, a haven for nature in an urban area, whe4.5×87k1.2k73134
80Sep 16, '22Turns out it is possible to exclude vehicles from & pedestrianise large parts of central London without the economy collapsing or the sky falling in. Who knew?4.1×05.8k76734
81Sep 9, '25I think the most amusing thing about watching the Green Party gradually rise in the polls now @ZackPolanski is in charge, is that Starmer is significantly responsible through being4.0×77k1.3k12533
82Sep 13, '22Glad I was able to go on TV this morning & make the argument that few others have been allowed to make: we can respect & mourn the Queen, whilst also questioning & prot3.9×05k853104
83Dec 21, '23The awful felling of these veteran beech trees seems to confirm what I’ve felt for some time: that the ‘felling licence’ regime is not fit for purpose & the Forestry Commission3.8×74k1.3k46526
85May 21, '24Genuinely ecstatic that Wellingborough tree campaigners have won today in High Court! This vindicates climbing a tree to stop felling: it was not only the morally right thing to do3.4×65k2k47029
86Apr 3, '25Hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction you get from being a river guardian seeing a sand martin nesting hole you campaigned to be installed being used for the first time. Thi3.0×59k1.9k24523
88Jul 18, '23Shout out to the folk who have repeatedly reported me to Bar Standards Board for my climate activism in the legal profession. I’m donating £50 to @JustStop_Oil for every complaint 2.9×55k1.4k2162
89Oct 3, '25Have @metpoliceuk thought about simply logging the protest on their system, doing nothing to investigate it & sending Shabana Mahmood a crime reference number & a text from2.8×54k2k37646
90Oct 3, '25The fact our largest police force is tweeting people planning to hold cardboard signs, begging them to change their plans & commit terrorism another time instead is highly sugg2.1×40k1.6k38438
91Apr 16, '25I was cycling down a busy cycle path in Stratford this evening when a tiny movement on the pavement caught my eye. I stopped & came face to face with the first newt I’ve ever seen 1.9×37k1.7k23824
92Jul 5, '22Courage calls to courage everywhere. Inspired by the recent actions of @JustStop_Oil activists at the Grand Prix & in the galleries, I realised it was time to step out again &a1.8×02.3k47715
93Sep 14, '22Last night was a victory for freedom of speech & the right to express dissenting opinions about the monarchy & the accession of Charles as king, as a whole group of protest1.8×02k46325
94Dec 14, '21What do you get if you cross the ‘Minister for Access to Nature’ with his 10,000 acre private estate near Reading that the public are almost entirely excluded from? Answer: the per1.7×01.9k46451
95Oct 14, '22Today marks the re-opening of Battersea Power Station. Whilst I'm glad the building has been saved, I'm sad that much of its soul & beauty has been lost to luxury flats. To mar1.7×01.8k316203
96Dec 9, '22*Breaking news* the first @InsulateLove protesters to be tried by a jury have all been acquitted of public nuisance, despite the trial judge refusing mention of climate change or f1.3×01.5k39613
97Jun 14, '22Feeling increasingly anxious about the failure of my profession to even talk about, let alone take action, on its role in the climate crisis, today I sat peacefully on the steps of1.2×01.4k28217
98Dec 6, '22I think my favourite thing about yesterday’s Guardian article on the River Roding is getting this headline in the print edition of a major national newspaper. Let all of us who bel1.1×01.5k26025
99Jul 20, '22At tonight’s Middle Temple protest, I was able to look the Lord Chief Justice in the eye & say “the UK reached its highest ever temperature this week. You are one of the most p1.0×01.3k21412

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