There was an old Oak--.

My previous post was about Burnley's oldest tree in a field just outside Towneley Hall.

Contrast that Oak with this one about half its age, within Towneley Hall grounds. It has had drastic limb removal, no doubt out of safety concerns and nearness to a path. But the tree is unlikely to survive and I doubt they expected it to, even though there is some desperate reactive growth.
Note the ubiquitous mown grass around the trunk.

I didn't see the Oak before work was done but one has to ask if other interventions were considered, such as a progressive crown reduction, that may have allowed this tree to survive.

The Ancient Tree Forum has plenty of advice on how to manage older trees in order to avoid outcomes such as this.

There is no shortage of new woodland being created but is anyone actually planting trees? And will future generations have ones such as the Colden Sycamore to admire? (You may expect this tree to have a Preservation Order but I will leave that for you to discover!)


                                                           200 years and then this.

 Lapsed Sycamore pollard above Colden Valley