http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/03/conker-tree-parasite-scotland

At least a couple of our cooker trees are infected. One has lost its leaves completely and its neighbour has the tell tale signs of infestation on the leaves. The decline for a mature tree is rapid. A couple of years and it’s a goner.

There’s an app called LeafWatch that you can photograph and register trees near you for a national database to track the migration of the moth. There are hardly any trees in Scotland on the register but ours have been infected for at least the last four or more years.

http://www.conkertreescience.org.uk/

We will be cutting down our first mature tree in a bid to stem the disease.

It’s sad. Although horse chestnuts are technically non-natives, they are beautiful trees.
Not that great firewood either 😕

I’ve been seeing trees with browning leaves by late summer, but they don’t seem to be the worse for it so I suppose it’s not this moth.

I’ve been seeing trees with browning leaves by late summer, but they don’t seem to be the worse for it so I suppose it’s not this moth.

That is exactly how ours started. The one in my picture had leaves last year. This year there were barely any. I think we first noticed a change in that tree about four years ago.

It’s worth picking a leaf or two and comparing it with the website then registering it on the app.

I think they are a handsome tree, it would be a shame to lose them from the landscape.

I can cut and split and mix it with other wood for the stove.

It’s been everywhere I’ve been. I seem to remember it for many years, as many as 10 maybe, but I haven’t seen any dead trees yet.

There are about 12 HC trees in the park across the road and about 5 in front gardens in our street. All seem pretty healthy so far. There aren’t any clumps of HC though with good separation between specimens and mixed in around 400 other trees of various species, so maybe that is helping them, or just luck. Edit, that’s in a big park in a town setting, not been paying attention out of town. Doncaster, S Yorkshire,

All of the HC trees around ‘our neck of the wood’ (Milton Keynes) are infected – early browning last couple of years and now smaller white conkers – how long have they got?

The one in front of our house (which has a TPO but nobody claims ownership of) has had this for at least the last 5 years. By July it looks as though it’s about to drop its leaves, but it still has a healthy crop of conkers – the kids have been out after school all week throwing things at it to get them down. It shows no sign of getting worse; shame really as it’s in an inappropriate position and we’d like rid of it. We’re in the SE.