ID please- bear, badger or boy?

A tree in a nearby nature reserve has some damage to its trunk.

If it were in Finland, I'd say it's bear scratching tree or possibly a moose getting rid of his horns. I find those options a tad unlikely here, 15mins metro ride from Newcastle town centre so am asking for advise or guesses.

Badger scratching? (I haven't seen any other trees marked like this so perhaps not likely, and the mark is higher up than I would expect for a badger)

Deers? Humans? The damage definitely looks more like scratching than nibbling or pecking.

(The Child is pictured for scale, she's full human height. )

Thanks!

 

Kids. Yoofs.

 

Thanks @pete and @wiseowl !

There are indeed grey squirrels there, but it's hard to think why they would choose to vandalise one tree at a spot where there is not even a branch to sit on whilst happily vandalising away. But then again, squirrels' logic is not always that transparent to us humans

I have never seen any human collateral debris usually connected with idiotic behaviour (no litter, no graffiti on the light wooden jetty) and the damage looks torn rather than cut.

Thinking about it, perhaps there was a polypore fungus or similar growing on the trunk that someone cut away? I wonder what kind of tools one would need for such a task?

 

Squirrels have bitten the heads off the camellia flowers and left them - vermin .... or vandals?

 

Or, more likely, for a hen do?