FIRE DAMAGE

Although traces of the fire that caused this damage have long since disappeared, the trees have been permanently weakened.  They keep growing and trying to cover the damaged wood by growing bark over the wound from the sides.  But this open wound is just what some fungi are looking for and rot will eventually set in.  The trees will probably break before they die.

Additionally the unseen damage caused by baking the fine roots, which are all in the top 600mm / 2 feet of the soil, can prove fatal.

Unfortunately the fire starters also spoil the site for wildlife by using dead wood for fuel, which would otherwise have formed a habitat for various invertebrates . . . 

. . . . and they sometimes spoil it for other visitors to the woods by destroying the marker posts and the QR stickers which tell you what to look for.  

Here are the remains of post 6 photographed recently by Lindsay.