Help on fungi ID please and a bit of advice

[detritus21]

Got asked to have a look at an Ash which has had a large limb failure and now the local residents are worried about it incase it drops another. The limb in question was hollow with signs of white rot but with a rather large bracket fungi which I think may be Polyporus squamosus (Dryads saddle) but would like to know for when I talk to the tree officer.

 

 

My other question is for the same tree. A large limb approx 1.5ft diameter is very close to this failure with the unions all being from a common point. The limb in question has a large cavity which I can fit my arm in. This limb overhangs a small road and has significant weight on it. My thought would be to take it off for safety reasons but this is only going to accelerate the decline of the tree. I'm interested how others may approach the same situation. Sadly I have no pic of the limb though

[Matthew Arnold]

I would reduced the weight in the limb leaning towards the road and so th same to its opposite number as Dryad's Saddle is an agressive white/soft rotter and judging by the size of that bracket the decay probably extends down to union already so may be making that unstable. So i would reduce it by about a third see how it reacts. If it dies off then reduce to unions to have a habitat stick.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Polyporus/ash/roads never a good combo, sounds like your gut reaction and thoughts all are telling you the right course to take.