David Humphries

This one shows heavily degraded cellulose and lignin in cross section with one small compartmented area untouched by the white rot of the Fomes. .

No12 on the distribution map is today's find on a heavily desiccated oak branch .

I would imagine that is a Pluerotus species. .

Ploughing v trees = dysfunction, decline and death .

I live in the country Mick, these trees are within a 10 minute drive from my house. I just happen to work in an urban environment, and if you've ever been to or know my working manor, it's a lot more like countryside than town. I'm not your 'usual' run of the mill urban tree officer .

Is that aimed at me Mick? .

Interesting thoughts. Thanks for sharing your perspective. The next generation to replace these should have been in place decades if not century ago. The gap will be too big for species to migrate across to in terms of habitat continuity. If I get a chance to go back to these later in the year I'll post up what's been grown. .

An all too familiar site in the rural landscape. Heritage and cultural aspects in decline. Old trees doing what old trees do, retrenching and moving toward there slow demise providing invaluable habitat along the way, but sadly in this case being pushed toward their end by ignorance perhaps? Ploughing too close will undoubtedly speed up their decline. Less roots, less mycorrhiza etc.... Oddly there must be some value to the land owner with these trees, otherwise they would have gone long ago. No longer required for winter fodder or building materials large numbers of these trees would have been cleared post 2nd world war to provide crops for a nation in recovery. Perhaps the debate around commerce, space and nature needs to be revisited before its too late for these landscape gems. Some good information in this old practical guidance doc.... https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/mediafile/100263304/pg-wt-2014-ancient-tree-guide-1-farming-english-.pdf?cb=f81f8860c1b444a39f40667f700be5c2 .

cracking images needs to get his visor down though .

I should cocoa http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/fungi-pictures/14352-geotropic-fungi.html .

Coppiced woodland Jake? .

Nice example Jake Did you tap the trunk, in terms of how decayed it sounded? .

Good call Rich, timely intervention .

I'd concur with Ganoderma sp If I was to guess, I'd go with applanatum as opposed to australe. Based on perceived morphological features. But spore is really required to determine the difference between the two. Have a look at the Schwartze and Ferner paper entitled Ganoderma on trees - Differentiation of species and studies of invasiveness. Lots of interesting dialogue on decay strategies of the main Ganoderma species .

Sorry Adam, just saw this. Can be a number of different things. Bacteria, fungi, insects The buds hormones get interfered with by the above, and can cause the multiple bud/twig proliferation, instead of the normal single growth. .

Not one of my trees Guy, but it's on a lower section of a slope in sandy soil so may get accumulation of erosion soil from above. .

Corker Love the juxtaposition .

Must have been from the Life University Mature Student Union I reckon Didn't realise we needed our passports for our field study trip, was it Denmark we were in? .

ok Jerone, no problems. Thanks for taking the time to explain what you have .

Yellow buckeye just about holding on to life. Buds forming on the remaining cambial tissue and what's left of the graft is sending down an aerial root. .

Nice contrast .

Looks good for it. I spent a long time just finding desiccated tiers of I. radiatus brackets before I spotted some freshly developed ones. Alders Carrs are generally a good site for it. .

Purely sapro .

This one is a stalked mushroom as opposed to a bracket like confragosa. It fruits regularly on a few sites on the heath, usually where it's fairly wet. Can see where your at with the blushing. Here's what the bay polypore looks like when it first fruits...... .

Looks a good shout for resinaceum Chris Here's what I imagine is a desiccated Polyporus durus (the bay polypore) on a willow log from earlier today. .