War against our lovely old oak trees.

We have been attacked by some recent invaders called Polyphagous Shot hole Borer Beetles (Euwallacea fornicatus), and we suffer so many casualties. Hundreds of beautiful old English oak trees are being cut down. Sadly, the beetles also damage the beautiful old Plane trees, Box Elders, Willow and Acer species. They are now being cut down, not only to prevent the trees from falling over, but also in an effort to destroy the beetle nests inside the trunks of the trees. We just heard that the Maple trees are also in danger of infestations by the beetles.
Have a look at this.

This lovely water channel had two beautiful old oak trees towering over it. We loved to sit in the shade of the trees, and I used to take photos of the water spiders, dragonflies and other insects.

A good friend of mine, @thebigsweed posted a heartbreak story of his daughter having to cut the old beloved tree down that gave them so much joy in the past. Sadly, the tree was dying, and they had to remove it before it fell onto their house. We got chatting about the beetles that ruin the trees, and their ash trees were attacked by Emerald Borer Beetles.
We have a different specie of the beetles here. Funny enough, with regards to the Oaks, they attack only the English oak trees and not the Turkish oaks.

Sadly, this is all that remains of those two old giant oaks.

Now I am not joking, as the borer beetles can cause serious damages to a tree. The next few photos will give you an idea of what I am talking about.

This gnarled old lady below had a recent haircut, her lower arms (branches) spread very wide and the limbs were now amputated.

Believed to be the oldest oak tree in South Africa.

I don't know why the buckets were placed in there, but I know that there are tree and botanical experts on the property, and those guys know what they are doing.

Finally, just to give you an idea about the roots of the old lady.

And so, the war is on between the beetles and the scientists. They have started to develop some antidotes to try and cure the situation, like repellent pouches stapled on the trees but in the meantime, we are losing many oak trees. I have no idea who is going to win this war, but we pray that a solution will be found soon.
Unfortunately, my old PC was forced to restart, and I had to complete this post in the drafts section of PeakD. I think it was damaged by all of the daily power cuts.
So, in fear of the thing switching off again, I am just glad that I could complete this post now.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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