Quercus Robert

Isn't this issue strikingly similar to the plight of ash trees? I.e., weakened trees succumbing to a pathogen.

I've seen SOME squirrels. But certainly, in the forest of Bere, just for example, this same bark damage is all around (on sweet chestnut), and I've seen seen no squirrels. I'm not saying there isn't an army of squirrels out there; I did not realise they were so destructive. Jim, I did pretty much assume the warm weather was responsible for immature figs ripening. Oh! That reminds me: Investigating the warm weather - the unseasonably HOT weather, I should say - I came across the Arctic Methane Emergency Group. Arctic Methane Emergency Group - AMEG - Arctic Sea Ice - Methane Release - Planetary Emergency These scientists are VERY worried about the release of methane hydrates from thawing Siberian permafrost. There's an estimated 10,000 gigatons there, 60 of which are enough to propel the planet into a Permian-style mass extinction. They also estimate a complete summer icecap melt either about now or next September. So that's quite exciting.

I have also noticed next summer's figs are ripening; obviously these should remain on the tree over winter then grow and begin ripening in about July, but here they appear to be reddening and becoming soft.

Egregious but not uncommon examples seen today.

Yes, I agree it looks like squirrel damage. My only hesitancy here is that I see it on so many trees.

Do the leaves seem as though they've been scorched?

Any good? It seems like I'm joking but it didn't look as bad as this when I was next to it.

Looks like it may even have spines on the bottom rather than pores.

OK well spontaneous xylem cavitation is interesting. Has the weather changed enough to cause this? Presumably this would be dramatic swings in weather conditions causing sap pressure in the xylem to drop below that of dissolved air. Well, investigating this avenue looks horrendous. Re your comments on Milgram, I totally agree that people are, or would be, unable to change their behaviour even if (when) faced with the undeniable proof that their actions are devastating their environment. Look at Fukushima: they haven't succeeding in capping it. All the US environmental agencies did was raise their postulated "safe" level of radiation by about 10,000% - then carry on greenlighting more nuclear plants. I don't think people are stupid - I think a very quick calculation occurs when these issues arise, balancing long-term hardship against short-term gain, and short-term gain wins, every time, because that's how we're wired. Re levels of aluminium, I thought aluminium was reasonably plentiful within the environment. How can aluminium be in air? I am aware that it is a common link in certain human metabolic diseases (I include autism here), though every disease is of course unique and multifactorial. pH change - OK well there were efforts to establish soil monitoring schemes in the UK circa 2008... Defra, UK - Science Search ...under the auspices of the Environment Agency. Here: http://www.sniffer.org.uk/files/8313/4183/8007/LQ09_Project_Summary.pdf the same thing is mentioned ("Next Steps This project feeds into the next phase of the UK-SIC remit, which involves the designing of a UK Soil Monitoring Scheme.") (2007) Finally I find a soil map, which is pretty interesting: United Kingdom Soil Observatory But crowdsourced? The pH measurements appear meaningless.

Assuming the damage to the trunk hasn't sprung suddenly upon this tree since it was cut back, can anyone tell me why it was left in place like this?

Urgh. Not being selective with these photos, these are in order as I went through the trees. Obviously these are all from the same location, but by and large this is the same as I've seen on chestnuts everywhere else

And more and more and

And here are some more:

Here are photos of chestnuts in Portchester. I have included a photo of them in their general setting - I feel this is important because many trees seem to look just fine from a distance but the trunks and bark tell a different story.

I don't know anything whatsoever about pittosporaceae, I'm afraid, I just thought I'd look them up and found the same disease symptoms. The other tree was far worse, to be fair.

If I can just respond to this paragraph first - yes, it is certainly the case that the usual factors affecting evolution are moving at warp speed, with the effect that in a geological eye-blink an entire geographical region has experienced climatic change, toxic overload, fragmentation of environment and population, mass introduction of foreign competitors and pests, and anthropomorphs stamping all over the place transmitting pathogens and setting fire to things and leaving Strongbow cans everywhere. The global extinction rate is currently about 10,000 times the background rate, with anywhere between 200-300 species becoming extinct every day. That puts us squarely in the middle (I'd argue tail end) of the Sixth great mass extinction. I wonder what Stanley Milgram would say.

Sorry, missed this post earlier. Cherries - not only ornamental, I'm afraid. All, AFAIC. Black (serotina), sour red cherries (avium?), ornamental, I can think of a few different types that I see around and they all have cankers or at the very least gummosis. The cankers are crazy-bad on some of the bigger trees. Crazy-bad is my official diagnosis. Planes - yes, I think the planes I see have this. In Fareham, they are planted all through town and the final twelve inches of the branches are shriveled and blanched. These are generally younger trees than they have in the centre of Southampton and in Portsmouth, where they are defoliating (as of July). Willows and poplars - regrettably I have not paid enough attention or been well-enough informed about diseases. I do not recall rust but I shall look from now on. Ash - yup. Oak - I previously was noting only the "retrenchment" of oaks but now I see quite a lot of the leaking black fluid and evidence of borers - either those exit holes or the heaps of waste they cast out, plus bare heartwood. Horse chestnut - *shudder* Sweet chestnut - I haven't seen galls but I have seen horrible bark damage. I will post images later so you can assess.

Hi Daniel, The same symptoms ("splits in the bark and white foam oozing out") are described here: https://www.grownups.co.nz/plant-doctor-pittosporum/ They blame a borer in that instance and recommend removing the tree, although it looks significantly worse than your friend's.

When you say that these are old wounds, do you mean to say that the damage is not ongoing?

This is managed woodland. This particular area is next to a wide path and has been thinned. Children often run up and down, and stack up branches. This tree in this area by itself is not necessarily indicative of a problem but this symptom is present on just about all the chestnuts (and birch, and beech, and rowan) in the area, whether people are tramping through or not. This particular section is called West Walk and covers 350 hectares.

Kveldssanger - please tell me you have a handier handle - I just looked up the Milgram experiment. Though I have come across this before, it was good to refresh myself with the details. Milgram's summary, that "relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority", is quite a happy thing. Per the rest of your very coherent post, I for one agree with your points, though the Anthropocene hadn't seemed such a bad thing for trees until recently (when I got my sunglasses). Can you explain more about soil pH change, and aluminium/nitrogen pollution (or link me to a trusted resource)? I was already aware of massive levels of methane being released from permafrosted deposits in Siberia, though I thought methane is more of a 'Venus Syndrome' greenhouse gas agent than something specifically harmful to trees.

First, Paul, I tried uploading some last night from my phone using my usual mail server but it placed a 2 MB limit so I went to bed. I've just tried gmail and it seems to work so here's one with the bark burned off almost all the way around.

Not to worry, Sam. This is just an ash tree doing its thing. Sometimes they burst into flames or spontaneously chop themselves into logs and pile themselves up neatly into bundles of firewood. Perfectly normal, nothing to worry about.

Hi. Update: I have continued examining trees of every kind in every location possible, including woodland. Today I went to the forest of Bere. I had a dual purpose as I was also seeking birch polypore (in the end I found a beefsteak fungus on a rotting chestnut stump). I want to be unconditional and categoric here: almost all the chestnuts, beech, birch and oak show incredible bark damage, some high up, others at the base, with absolutely incredible amounts of heartwood on show. Some of them appear almost circled. Sometimes the foliage is OK, other times there is massive dieback. These trees are dying. I can see that the forestry people have been out removing and felling a lot of dead and dying trees - away from the paths where families walk with their dogs and children. Move 100-200 metres in from the paths and they've been pretty busy. So, I assume this is a recognised problem. I don't think there's any point talking about cherry gummosis, ash dieback, leaf miners on horse chestnuts, AOD etc etc; whatever this is, it's cross-species, i.e. it's environmental, and it's causing trees to lose whatever resistance they have to naturally-occurring pathogens. This is not strimmer damage or compaction in the middle of woodland; it isn't drought or deluge or heatwave or a cold summer or oscillating hot-wet weather. It's not restricted to urban areas. I have a cherry, two sycamores and a cultivated plum positively dying in my back garden. To the front there are limes, oaks, birches and those ubiquitous purple-leafed plums, all dying back (looking at the trunks of these usually confirms what I expect to see: nasty trunk damage along with insect infestations - always nice to see a few thousand woodlice and a couple of hundred earwigs fall out when I tug at a piece of cracked bark). Woodland environment: different trees but exactly the same situation. The public aren't seeing this because they're either blind or stupid.

Yes. Thank you for noticing. Can somebody tell me where the toilet is?