Sadly another tree came down next to the wood on Sunday night. Local residents reported a cracking sound at 7pm and on closer inspection one of the three large ash trees that borders the wood and the car park had snapped at the base and crashed into the wood. This tree had a ring of fungus around the bottom of the trunk, indicating that it had rotted. Council tree notices had been placed on it and its “sister” tree back in June but no work had been carried out. Luckily the tree fell at a time when few people will have been walking past and it came down into the wood rather than into the car park. Unfortunately the tree landed on the green metal fence that had been installed 2 years ago and two of these fence panels are buckled due to the weight of the tree.
The council have been informed and the tree, along with its neighbour have now been chopped down. The second tree was also showing signs of rot (which was clearly visible once the trunk had been sawn) and so had to be removed for safety. The parakeets will be happy though that the third ash tree is alive and well: they are often spotted poking their heads into a hole made by the woodpecker a few years back!
Some of the wood has been squirrelled away by log hunters but the bulk of it remains in the wood where it should rot down nicely over the next few years, providing our much-loved stag beetles with even more breeding ground. The fence has been noted as broken and the repairs team will investigate once the tree works have completed.
