What has caused the vertical wounding?

[slack ma girdle]

4 hours ago, openspaceman said:

The base of the tree doesn't seem to get damaged by fire unless the fire actually burns it. Most of the damage is done when radiant heat breaks down the proteins in the cambium and the characteristic pattern of necrosis tends to look like an assegai spear blade, broadly curved at the base and tapering out at the top

Good analogy

[jimboy]

The excavator strike sounds the most reasonable cause. Ditch in front of the tree possibly being cleared out by excavator, with the digger operator bashing on regardless of what branches they take out.

If there had been no ditch and damage a lot lower down I was going to go for road traffic collision but clearly not.

[Mick Dempsey]

Looks like old swipes from a ditch clearance with a digger to me as well.

[Dan Maynard]

I was initially thinking ditch work either digger or flail, but there are branches behind that have been affected. Maybe all a trick of angles in photo of course.

[Laura 12345]

4 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

I was initially thinking ditch work either digger or flail, but there are branches behind that have been affected. Maybe all a trick of angles in photo of course.

No, you're correct - some of the limbs were leaning quite signficiantly away from the others. 

[Laura 12345]

Some interesting opinions mentioned here, thanks all for replying. I believe the site was an old stately home, as it has some beautiful ancient/veteran oaks and an old ice house, so I wondered if some of the ditches were old boundary features, which predated some of these trees (like the horse chesntuts on the images) - however, clearance work certainly may have causing the wounding shown. 

 

Thanks all! 

[Stere]

Frost crack - Wikipedia

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

 

How about this?