Phear Park's oldest oak

[Chocky]

No one heard it. No one saw it . There was no wind.
It just toppled over and died.
It was a magnificent Champion Oak which has a girth of 7.91 metres in the middle of the park and was donated to the People of Exmouth by the Phear family and is believed to be 250 years old.
This Photo was taken by me. I took it from the far edge of the park it is so big

[rolf]

That's a great shame Beryl, not easily or quickly replaced.

[topper]

I don't think it has been healthy for a long time as the root formation is very poor, for such a size of tree you would expect a minimum of 1/3 the size of branch structure to be mirrored in the root structure, also from the colour of the roots as well it suggests all was not well.

[Chocky]

No. It has been almost dead now for several year but still grew green foliage on some parts. You can see greenery on it even now
It is a shame . It was a magnificent tree when I came here 30 years ago. There are quite a few beautiful oak but non as beautiful as that was in it's time.
I'm surprised others hadn't fallen the park gets flooded in quite a few areas and in the past torrential rain over several days and gales have brought quit a few down

[Analoguesat]

Oh that is a sad sight indeed.

[Chocky]

It is. Here is another but much younger an there are several more but not as big as the toppled Oak

[Catherine]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that the field flooded on a regular basis, Beryl. It certainly looks as if the tree had rotted through at the base of the trunk.

As Topper said, had it been pulled from the ground, you'd have expected to have seen much more of the root formation - and with soil attached.

Perhaps its sad demise will encourage the landowners to install some sort of drainage around the others now.

You can only hope!

(Are there TPOs on them anyway?)

[Chocky]

They have installed drainage the town floods to 40 years ago the whole of Exmouth was 4feet under water. This is why the brook was built and re . The drains can't cope
Exmouth, East Devon
The Exe is always flooding and The fields become like lakes. I put some photos up offlooded fields near the Twin Locks .Will try and find them

Here we are
http://www.thamesvalleybirds.co.uk/l...es-2008-a.html