The beech is renowned for dropping limbs and is often referred to as the ‘widow maker’. We always advise against camping under them and whilst the risk is low, it is certainly real. This beech is close to our camp (although you’ll be glad to hear that there aren’t any beech in the camp itself!) and has dropped a sizeable limb in the last day or 2. We’ve taken these photos to remind us all of the dangers. We’ll certainly be pointing this particular tree out when we are on our tree identification walks!
A fallen beech branch
Update – we winched the branch into the field today and got a better view of it. The top of the branch had a fissure from a much smaller broken branch which looks like it allowed water to penetrate into the wood. This caused the inside of the branch to rot. So not sudden drop syndrome.
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