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Infrared View of Ancient Sweet Chestnut Tree (Castanea sativa), Croft Castle, Herefordshire

Infrared View of Ancient Sweet Chestnut Tree (Castanea sativa), Croft Castle, Herefordshire

            This huge ancient sweet chestnut tree pollard, with a trunk girth of 9.55m, stands towards the eastern end of the magnificent 'Sweet Chestnut Avenue', an avenue of ancient sweet chestnut trees about 1km in length. Sadly, many are slowly dying from Cinnamon fungus or Ink disease (Phytophthora cinnamomic), but they are ‘dead beautiful’ as giant sun bleached hulks. Seeds from these trees are being propagated by the National Trust in the hope that they will germinate into disease resistant trees.

Thought to be 400-500 years old, this fits well with the story that says sweet chestnuts were taken from captured Spanish ships and planted at Croft Castle between 1580 and 1680. These lines of chestnuts are called 'Armada Chestnuts' because there is a legend that they were raised from nuts found in the pocket of a Spanish sailor wrecked during the attempted Armada invasion in 1588. Most of the legends clustering around old trees are far-fetched; this one is fetched further than most.

Taken on: January 26, 2025

Tags:

ancient tree

dead wood

b&w

black & white

infrared

sweet chestnut tree

sweet chestnut avenue

Phytophthora cinnamomic

ink disease

ancient sweet chestnut tree

cinnamon fungus

tree trunk

castanea sativa

pollard

croft castle

Herefordshire

spanish chestnut tree

winter

wood pasture

wood

woodland

scdronemedia

nikon d7000

Nikon

d7000

nature

outdoors

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moss

decay

bark « less

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