Insect holes in base of tree ...

[warren]

Anything to worry about?. I think its a sweet chestnut (?). Holes are 8mm-10mm diameter. Pic shows a grubs skin but maybe unrelated to the holes.... ? Thanks

[David Humphries]

Are you sure it's not Poplar?

 

they look like the holes associated with the poplar hornet moth - Sesia apiformis

 

 

 

 

.

[Mark Bolam]

....which is bad news.

[Gary Prentice]

Some bloke posted this about them a while back;

 

An abstract from the online Cambridge Journal, from a bulletin of Entomological Research by Nigel Straw.

 

Dieback and recovery in poplar and attack by the hornet clearwing moth, Sesia apiformis (Clerck) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae)

 

 

"A survey of 801 poplar trees in central east England in 1999 demonstrated a correlation between crown dieback and infestation by hornet clearwing moth (Sesia apiformis), induced by a period of drought in 1995–1996. To determine whether trees colonised by S. apiformis would subsequently deteriorate and die or whether they could recover despite infestation and damage to the stem, all trees in the original survey were re-assessed in 2001, 2003 and 2005. The repeat surveys showed that trees with 70% or less crown dieback in 1999 replaced their canopy and generally improved by 2005, irrespective of the numbers of S. apiformis in the stem, whereas trees that had 75% or more crown dieback in 1999 either died or declined further. The presence of S. apiformis did not prevent tree recovery, and there was little evidence that infestation slowed the rate of recovery. Populations of S. apiformis, measured in terms of the numbers of adult emergence holes visible in the base of the trees, decreased between 2001 and 2005 at the same time as the amount of dieback visible in the canopy of the poplars markedly decreased. However, the fall in numbers of emergence holes at this time reflected a decline in larval establishment 2–3 years earlier, and indicated that the moth population had responded to a more rapid restoration in the internal state of the trees, which was not reflected immediately by the gradual replacement of dead branches and reduction in dieback symptoms."

 

 

You can 'rent' the entire article for £3.99 for 24hrs 

 

 

[warren]

Are you sure it's not Poplar?
 
they look like the holes associated with the poplar hornet moth - Sesia apiformis
 
 
 
 
.

Yeah.. could be [emoji15]

[warren]

Yeah.. could be [emoji15]

Thanks all. Had a vta done recently but this wasn't picked up on (presumably cos it was covered in ivy).