Sycamore trees dying branch by branch in the Peak District

We went for a drive around the Peak District yesterday and noticed that certain sycamore trees, largish ones, are showing signs of entire branches dying from end to end.

There may be one tree doing this while surrounded by other perfectly healthy trees.

Drive a couple of hundred yards further along the road and you’ll see the same thing - one or two major branches on one tree affected while all those around them are not.

Here is a rather poor photo of one tree. The surrounding trees are ash trees in this case.

 

Unfortunately I was wondering the exact same thing but where I live. Our local woods is full of sycamore trees that have the same problem but it sounds more widespread than what you have noticed, unless the mix of trees is different.
The sycamores really suffered during the 22 summer drought (we are the driest part of the country) and quite a few died then but ever since I have seen large patches of trees suffering and wondered if it was a reaction to the weather or a new problem (or new to me) that was causing it.

 

I think this is likely to be down to sooty bark disease, which is certainly an increasing problem for sycamores and occasionally other kinds of maple in London and the SE thanks to climate change. It's a fungus which grows under the bark of trees, producing a thick layer of black dusty spores which will cause dieback of tree branches/ if severe eventually a whole tree, and also spreading by wind to infect others nearby. It's been around since the 1940s (arriving from N America) but becomes much more aggressive in hot dry weather. Locally according to our tree officer we have started losing large mature sycamores altogether following on from recent hot dry summers - where previously just some smaller branches might die back. More information about the disease in this factsheet.

 

I've noticed similar here but not been able to get close to any with the problem, I was assuming it was squirrel damage but probably not then.

 

I think I'm also seeing the chestnut disease stated in that fact sheet @Clare G .

 

More than likely @pete, it's one we also get locally, more and more. Very sad always to see the trees struggling!

 

I would hardly expect something like chestnut to sucum to heat related disease in the UK bearing in mind it grows better in warmer European areas.

 

It's the horse chesnut canker that we see so much of locally @pete, having so many of those trees on our commons and in our parks. Affected trees don't necessarily die I don't think, just struggle and look sick.

Dunno about the sweet chesnut blight - haven't seen many sweet chesnuts, around here.

 

The horse chestnut canker seems to have almost run its course around here, I've seen trees that were leaking sap a few years ago looking quite good now, of course they did the usual thing and cut lots down without giving them a chance.

It seemed to attack the smaller trees rather than the big old ones.

 

Thank you for that. Very sad.

 

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