Hi all - we've got an old copper beech in our garden - it's huge, and probably>100 years old. It's generally in pretty good shape, but I've noticed some changes I'm a little worried about.
A few years ago, it positively *dumped* beech nuts - not kidding, we probably had the husks an inch thick on the lawn. Since then, it's been a whole lot quieter - but this year I thought to collect them up (with a view to eating them). I filled up a bucket of husks and got a bowl of the nuts from it - but none of the nuts actually has any nut "meat" inside - they're all "blanks". Some had a dark brown crumbly looking attempt at making a nut. We found a little worm in one, but it doesn't seem to be infested with them.
Looking at the tree, it's been pulled about a bit in the past, but looks pretty good and produces a lot of leaves, which seem well formed. It does seem to have some grey patches on the trunk and the bigger branches. A fallen twig also shows the same sort of thing - I would guess this is how the majority of the tree looks by now. I can't see any particular evidence of critters in or on it, and there's no real moss or fungi nearby.
Environmentally, we're in sandy soil over sandstone (and the tree is probably rooted into stone). It's at the top of a slope, and is by far the biggest thing nearby, although there are some smaller silver birch and <something> in the neighbours garden nearby. There's a bit of soil erosion on the slope and some roots are starting to show, but in the main we've probably built up more soil under and around the tree than has been lost (over the last few years).
What can I do to help this old giant along a bit? I'm happy to do anything short of massage and serenading it, as it's a really great feature and being as old as it is, deserves a bit of respect. Any ideas?