Truncated trunk

treecreeper · #1 (**permalink**) 15-09-2009, 03:54 PM

I don't know what happened to the lower part of this birch. Beavers? Termites?

volence · #2 (**permalink**) 15-09-2009, 07:04 PM

Maybe it rotted away?

Amoeba · #3 (**permalink**) 15-09-2009, 08:14 PM

I was about to say it might have been vandalised, but nah that's too strange. It's too big and too clean cut.

I'd guess rot too, but then again it still looks to clean cut to have rotted. It's like someone took a saw to it. Did you get to see how clean the cut was closer up? You could probably tell if it was rot by the colour of the non-bark part of the wood.

treecreeper · #4 (**permalink**) 15-09-2009, 09:19 PM

I couldn't get too close to it because it was surrounded by nettles and I had shorts on (OK, so I'm not SAS material). The wood looked brown and rotted though, not cut. Perhaps those birch polypores did the damage.

Susie · #5 (**permalink**) 15-09-2009, 09:31 PM

Perhaps some large animal blundered into the lower part and knocked it down. If the whole tree was rotted it could happen without too much difficulty. It looks as if the upper part is being supported by the other tree it is tangled in.

Failing that ... paint shop? lol.

treecreeper · #6 (**permalink**) 15-09-2009, 11:06 PM

I wish my photo manipulating skills were up to that Susie. I can just about cope with changing brightness and contrast. As for animals...this was North Wales so no elephants, but there were cows grazing nearby

bobbarber · #7 (**permalink**) 16-09-2009, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by treecreeper

I don't know what happened to the lower part of this birch. Beavers? Termites?

It could be a fungal infection, why not try the fungi forum, there are some very knowledgeable people there...Bob

Cotham Marble · #8 (**permalink**) 16-09-2009, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by treecreeper

I don't know what happened to the lower part of this birch. Beavers? Termites? [

Deer.

CM

Susie · #9 (**permalink**) 16-09-2009, 09:41 AM

Have you ever seen badgers at play or war? One of those heafty beasts crashing against a rotten tree trunk would send it flying.

valleyforge · #10 (**permalink**) 16-09-2009, 09:46 AM

I think the explanation might be a whole lot simpler ...

I suspect that this is the topmost section of a wind-snapped birch tree that hasn't touched down because it has just become entangled and supported by a neighbouring tree (or it may even be the top part of the tree that's now supporting it).

If the birch had been in leaf then a significant gale could have carried it several feet sideways ... the remaining trunk, the top of which would have been somewhat higher than the base of this remnant, will no doubt be nearby, although it may too have toppled and be now hidden by the undergrowth.