My heart aches at the thought that this old and beautiful London Plane tree might also have to be cut down.
We have an infestation of Pothole Borer Beetles that kill the trees, and it is said that we have already lost thousands of trees.
Most of the trees are very old, as they were planted a long time ago, when the areas were still only farmland with no residential residences and town suburbs. Some of the trees also have historical value, such as the first Oak tree planted in the country, that can be seen on one of the wine farms here. Some towns and cities are ear marked with lanes of trees along their major roads and all of the trees are now in danger of being killed.
It is a mind-boggling problem and I will show you some other trees that were cut down.
This was once a huge and beautiful tree very similar to the tree in the first photo, Now it lays felled because of a borer beetle invasion.
This is a detail about the start of the holes that the beetles make along the length of the tree's trunk.
Look! It is sickening to see how the tree trunk was hollowed out.
I don't know enough, but those white specks dropping down inside the trunk looked like a nest of the invaders.
If anyone in another country have had a similar situation and an effective solution to the problem of invasive beetles, then please let me know so that I can forward the information to our nature protection departments.
You can see that the beetles were also busy on this part of the tree.
All of the wood is taken away to be burned in order to prevent the spread of the beetles.
As we are nearing winter most of the trees have lost their leaves and one can only wonder how many more trees will be removed across the country.
So, everything is not hunky dory in nature and the greatest destroyer is mankind. A question is, how did the beetles get to South Africa from South East Asia? There are some possible answers mentioned in the paper that I source cited, and I think that it could only be by the actions of mankind that resulted in the beetles ending up here.
Once again we have caused a major disturbance in nature that is going to cost this country billions to restore.
To swing softly on your back in a hammock in the shade of an old oak tree is a blessed experience. That is if a squirrel doesn't come running over your stomach when you fall asleep in the hammock :)
That's another point to consider, as the squirrels and the other small nut eating animals might soon not have any more nuts available. Soon there will be no more old oak trees to tie a yellow ribbon to.
Sheer devastation as far as I am considered and not a happy post.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
