Bloody annoying, even if predictable. I wanted to level a piece of ground round by the back door and engaged a pal with a JCB to do the dirty. In the middle was a hawthorn, a scraggy specimen, but a survivor, I thought. I asked him to used the big bucket and get out as big a root ball as he could, and then plonk it down in a hole 20 yards away. That was last autumn, but this spring there's not a sign of any fresh growth, and the bush appears to be on its last legs, with not a hint of green in any extremities.
I know I was taking a gamble lifting an established specimen, but a chap can hope.