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a few years of water shortage. So I wondered, "Why not the
pond too?" We walked through the woods to a much more
man-managed controlled area, King George's Playing fields, a
neat park with all the 'Amenities' children's play area, recently
enlarged, a car park nearby and other facilities and gathering
places. Walking past these we came to a huge dead tree,
a Spanish weeping beech at least 150 years old and possibly
older. They won't know until they cut it down. When Alan Marsh
spoke about this tree it was clear that this living thing had been
very dear to him. You could just tell by what he said. He had
obviously been devastated by its death. But he realised that it
would have to be made safe for human safety reasons.
He explained how these trees can suffer from sunburn. the
bark can split. Any injury can provide ingress for lethal fungal
diseases as this one had. Once again I wonder if the underlying
factor could have been brought about by water shortage
stress caused by climate change. The tour came to an end but I
continued a conversation with Alan. I asked how the removal of
trees and the thinning of the canopy could offset leaving them in
place, thus retaining the maximum leafage which we are aware
we need at the moment. His view was that basically a dense
number of trees stifle each other even at canopy level wheras
a reduction provides more light at the higher level for trees to
develop and at ground level to maintain a ground environment
which does not become sterile of other flora and fauna. I do
doubt though that we actually have the time to wait around for
the canopy to enlarge again when presumably the same thing
will be done again. Then there is the energy, manpower, fuel
and so on that's used every time this clearance is done.
He did mention that at Herongate I think it was, a short distance
South, an area had been designated at some point a 'Site