What caused this? Have a guess

[arbwork]

no clue is where it was

[Dan Curtis]

Security tag of some kind? If not, no idea!

[arbwork]

Closer examination of ? shows an evenly bored hole filled with a branch complete with bark

[Tyz05]

A pen or permanent marker? Ink stained the wood?

[firewood]

Is it one of those rubber ties used to stake a sapling that has become encased / included as the tree grew?

 

http://www.kinnoirwoodfuel.co.uk

[RobArb]

its an old piece of 2x4" / 1x4"

[sloth]

Odd bit is the branch complete with bark wedged in it? Is it where someone has increment bored the tree years ago then filled the holes (one drilled from either side by looks of it) with said branch? Seems an odd thing to have done on a small obviously non decayed tree, but it sure looks like it

[arbwork]

sloth when i first looked at it i thought it was a branch, but to big to low in the tree and to even and bigger than possible, your assessment of the action is correct but on a bigger scale and i think drilled straight through the trunk

[arbwork]

I think the hole is there because the tree would have been moved or lifted as a large rootballed tree and the method used was a Newman Frame ( see civic trees web site ) or similar where the tree has a frame over the root ball with a metal pin through the trunk to help secure the tree and root ball whilst breaking the tree and root ball from the ground, you can see the pin better from the right side of the picture below. all the best for Christmass and the new year:001_smile:

[Beardie]

Third pic actually looks like the silhouette of a mobile phone! But he said its' not metal, so that's out.