A yew tree (Taxus baccata) growing in the churchyard of St John the Baptist in Ashbrittle, Somerset has a girth of 38ft and is reputedly 4,000 years old – possibly ‘Britain’s oldest living thing’ – is looking ‘extremely sick’ and could be dying.  A churchwarden commented: ‘I’m worried if the rural chuch or the yew will die first’.  But a ‘tree expert’ thinks the tree might recover [Metro, 27 April 2015].