Hot Chestnut?

There are a number of large chestnut trees in the park in Warminster. This one has suffered from the hot weather and a huge branch cracked yesterday- luckily no-one was hurt as it happened at night. This is how it looked yesterday morning:-




This is how it looked today:-

Tomorrow it will probably be all gone after more than 200 years.

 

Sad but tres do come to their end eventually. I just hope someone can make something usefull out of all that gorgeous wood rather than have it burnt. Come to that I could floor my flat with it!

 

I have asked my brother in law who is a wood turner if he wants a bit but he hasn't replied yet- I don't know much about the wood, I don't think it's very strong.

 

Looks like they've missed a great chance to pollard that tree. Pity. I believe Chestnut wood twists and turns with moisture so would make a rubbish flooring surface unless you're a budding mountaineer, and pops in the fire. Mebbe they should be boring and trad so just split it and make palings for fencing.

 

Anyone else suffering from this ghastly Chestnut blight. That tree looks pretty much OK to me. On the M4 into London the chestnuts were looking like it was October in July its so bad.

 

I believe that the newly arrived chestnut blight is caused by leaf mining moth larvae. The leaves go brown and the tree can be weakened, but not fatally. The tree in these photos may just have shed its branch naturally. It's the tidy minded, H&S types who then massacre what remains into a ghastly, but safe ruin of a tree. No reason whatsoever to remove this tree.

 

The chaps who are taking it down say it had a number of weaknesses. I hope it is clearer here


that the branch had been splitting away for a while, and they say other branches are the same! The other old chestnuts seem fine, no sign of any blight, their buds and flowers are a joy in spring and their conkers much coveted in Autumn. I'm not convinced something couldn't be done, but they say council orders are to remove on safety grounds.... :(

 

Yes - safety first. We are as litigation mad as the Yanks now and seek compo. for every trip, bump or bruise. So local authorities, companies and churches have to remove even the most unlikely hazards to protect themselves. It's not "Nanny State" its just greed.

 

How very very sad when a tree dies..the numerous ones here are looking good and ladened with nuts.
Taking another look, realised it is a
Horse Chesnut ours are the edible variety.

 

Surprising the Council couldn't be put in a quandary by pointing out to them they are failing in their obligations to respect biodiversity - rotten weak trees are the best!

No idea if they have an obligation to protect/encourage biodiversity, but then I suspect nor do they... :D :D

I was in Richmond Park yesterday, 10/10 for a London Park! They leave their dead wood about, and do little chopping up. If a tree falls on your head - bad luck I guess. Great for beetles though! But then it is a National Nature Reserve.

 

What they tend to do around here is cut the tree down and stack the logs in a pile to rot away.
Suppose it gets the council off the hook as far a safety is concerned and also helps the wild life.
I just wish that when they cut the big ones down they would replace them with something similar and look after it so that it reached maturity.
I recently wrote to my local council about the number of young trees they strimmer the bark off at the base each year.
The reply was, that the trees are checked once a year and if it is found that the contractors have killed any, then they have to replace them at their expense.
Wonderful, if it doesn't cost the council any money they dont care.

 

Maybe they could apply the same reasoning to their countless employees? No I do not mean that.

 

There's a lot of differing opportuniies for creatures to live in rotting trunks that remain upright rather than laying down, not least woodpeckers. The water relations inside the trunks are completely different, and have a vertical gradation missing from the sawn logs. I think it would be wise policy to leave the old trunks in situ as they take years to become unsafe. Agree with you Pete about replacing trees.

 

Agree with Pete and Jazid.

 

Came across this article about leaving decaying trees/wood for biodiversity in woodlands - interesting article, but also loved the pictures of strapping the decaying trunks to standing trees! Something really touching about it. www.arborecology.co.uk/article_decay.htm