johnmcc

[/img] The dead weeping birch with the dead tortured willow behind. [/img] The silver birch [/img] Leaves on the silver birch. Once again, thanks for the advice. What a great forum!

Brilliant - I'm really grateful for the advice. So the only remaining question is: Is there anything I can do to save the 12 year old Silver Birch? It's at the edge of the run and I'll post a photo this afternoon, visitors permitting.

Thanks very much for the replies, chaps. In a way I hope it's the chicken sh*t because that means we may have no further problem. The weeping birch that died first was in the middle of the run, the tortured willow (second) was in the hedge around the run, as is the silver birch. I'll post a photo of the foliage etc tomorrow. As long as my oak, plum and apple survive I won't be too sorry. The tortured willow was an ugly thing anyway, IMHO! Oh, and a hawthorn right in the middle of the chicken run seems to be totally unaffected.

Sorry I asked . . .

Yes, I've joined this forum because I have a problem. Sorry. I'm in North Norfolk in an area that's on a pretty thick clay pan about 60 to 80 cms below the surface. I have a variety of trees in my garden and seem to be losing them. Two years ago a large weeping willow in a field behind my garden, separated from it by a ditch, died over the winter. Then last summer a weeping silver birch in my garden died at the end of July - all the leaves turned brown and fell, and before long twigs started to fall off the tree - all this within a few weeks. This June a tortured willow about 5 metres from the birch has started to die back from the top. Both the birch and the tortured willow were (are) about 6 metres tall. Now a 10 year old silver birch about 5 metres from the other two has started to look sickly, with leaves starting to curl and go brown at the edges, and some beginning to fall. The three trees dead or dying in my garden are all in my chicken run. Could the chicken droppings be having an effect? In my village we are all on septic tanks. Could the sub-surface run off from the tanks be killing the trees? Or is it honey fungus or similar? All the trees are within a 6 or 7 metres of either the boundary ditch or a large pond connected to the ditch. The water table is less than 60 cm below the surface in the dryest weather - even during this spring's drought. Also within my garden I have a large Oak, a very tall Ash, a Sweet Chestnut, Plum and Apple trees which so far (fingers crossed) don't seem to be affected. I don't think there is anything I can do to prevent any fungus or disease spreading since the root systems of my trees seem to be pretty well interconnected, but I'd like to know if the remaining trees are in danger, and what species might be safe if I have to replant. If you have any thoughts you'd be prepared to share with me I'd be most grateful.