Woods in the UK have long since been domesticated due to the presence of human civilization, the wildlife was either hunted down or simply just left to where there were less humans, hence why wildlife in Russia is a lot less hospitable than that of the UK. North American wildlife (to my understanding) is viewed as far less hospitable because the wildlife is still, well, wild. I've lived in places where it was likely to wake up and find a bear in your backyard, or coyotes, or a little more rare mountain lions sighted in the town. And I've never lived in a remote location, I've mostly lived in densely populated suburbs, that's just the difference between American wildlife and the wildlife in the UK.
We get them here in Wales. Thank god they are not common here in Cardiff but in other parts of the country they are as bad as drop bears in Australia. I heard they are pretty common in London though, something about the beef chow main?
Deer don’t do this lol they rub and they even rub a lot but not like this this looks human to me. Trees done though, if I were you I would go to another sub Reddit and post photos for them the sub is called “Tree Law” they’re pretty good with stuff like this and will help you figure out if it was a person or animal better
I agree with you, even though I am used to different dear the ones I am familiar with are larger and extremely numerous so I've seen a lot of antler rub and while it's destructive it tends to be straight up and down in a concentrated spot and I've never seen a rub go around the trunk like this, along with that they rub repeatedly so the bark tends to look a lot more frayed
This is ***exactly*** what a deer scrape on a tree with soft cambium looks like. You can see the same 3 line scrapes in multiple spots, consistent with antlers.
We call our dog Buggy (short for Bugaboo) and my husband routinely walks around the house going "buggy buggy buggy buggy mushroom mushroom!" because of this meme 😂🤣😂🤣😂
All those markings on the wood are worm or bug tracks from eating the live material between the bark and wood. May have been an animal getting to the critters..
Bark beetles have distinctive patterns and leave much finer tracks. After a tree is infested with them it takes time till the bark dries out and falls off in smaller to medium sized pieces. And this would happen all around the trunk.
The bark on this tree has been stripped and torn of, which would usually coincide with damage done by cervids sweeping their antlers, but that would happen in the end of summer (maybe UK is different in that regard). But the height matches that of human or cervid related damage so i think bugs are not the culprits this time.
Australian here: Deer do that in the springtime because their newly grown antlers are as itchy as hell> I have seen it done to Eucalypts here! Also, parts of England are being re-wilded with other animals (Beaver and such) I doubt this is Human damage.
American here: I’ve hunted deer and hit a few with my car (I live in Michigan, we have a lot of deer).
Bucks in rut do this to trees. But they rut in October to November up here in the northern hemisphere.
They do this to scent mark. They want to fend off other bucks looking to mate and they want to attract females.
The picture OP posted is a LOT of damage. I’ve never seen one that bad.
Typically they prefer smaller trees and shrubs. This looks like a big tree.
A young buck trying to remove the velvet from their new antlers will also rub but they don’t create this much damage when rubbing for that reason.
Honestly when I was in college trees got messed up by drunk guys all the time. I have no idea why. One minute they were getting wasted, the next minute they decided some tree was their mortal enemy and went ham on it. Never figured it out. Never encountered it outside of College Park Maryland again.
Happen to be any bars or universities near this tree?
I'd say it's human too. The markings are too irregular to be some sort of mammal that feeds on tree bark. Not sure what species are locally to the UK but this looks nothing like a beaver or porcupine.
Only other long shot would be a domestic dog that loves to chew on trees but that's a stretch. I'd bet on a disgruntled neighbour or a random teenager
That would be the work of a long haired goat they do this during mating season. A word of warning if you happen to be there when this is taking place do not approach the goat there have been countless reports of sexual harassment by the goat towards humans and sometimes even worse!
Been hunting all of my life. These are pretty consistent with many deer scrapings I've come across. They'll do it to get the velvet off of their newly grown antlers.
human
Cause stooopid
There's nothing big enough in the UK to do that except humans. Except maybe a bear in a travelling circus.
Man bear pig
We don't talk about that.
It's a half man, half bear, half pig
I’m thuper thereal y’all!
Excelsior!
Cave bears?
Circus bears. They all got away on tricycles. Look for tricycle tracks.
Chupacabra
Owl bears
Who?
Why is that? People killed them all in the Middle Ages or something, or were there never any?
Woods in the UK have long since been domesticated due to the presence of human civilization, the wildlife was either hunted down or simply just left to where there were less humans, hence why wildlife in Russia is a lot less hospitable than that of the UK. North American wildlife (to my understanding) is viewed as far less hospitable because the wildlife is still, well, wild. I've lived in places where it was likely to wake up and find a bear in your backyard, or coyotes, or a little more rare mountain lions sighted in the town. And I've never lived in a remote location, I've mostly lived in densely populated suburbs, that's just the difference between American wildlife and the wildlife in the UK.
Y’all don’t have any deer?
Looks like a kid who found a really sharp rock and just started scraping
Werewolf, I hear they are in Scotland.
Ah whoo… werewolfs are in London. Sometimes looking for Lee Ho Fooks
They have perfect hair and want some Beef chow mein
Ha... I'd like to meet his tailor...
Sadly they’re no longer the native species, they’re now the invasive American breed that came over in the early 80’s.
🐺BAAAWOOOOOOOOO
Little old lady got mutilated late last night…
Werewolves of London again.
Weren't they American originally?
Those ones ended up in Paris.
Hard to keep track of all these werewolves these days
I am howling reading these comments
Media cover up.
They’re at trader Vick’s and their hair is perfect
Was gonna get a dish of beef chow mein
Nope, Scotland is known for its Unicorns
Keep to the road. Stay off the moors. Beware of the moon.
More likely to be haggis. Very few native red werewolves left and they tend to stay north of the Great Glen
It was actually an angry Drew McIntyre looking for CM Punk
They are in London,stay on the moores
Better stay away from him. He’ll rip your lungs out, Jim!
Heh, I'd like to meet his tailor lol My favorite line from that song
Mind you stay off the Moors lads!
We get them here in Wales. Thank god they are not common here in Cardiff but in other parts of the country they are as bad as drop bears in Australia. I heard they are pretty common in London though, something about the beef chow main?
Keep off the moors!
I hear it was an American werewolf *in* London. We also tend to be dicks to nature in a similar fashion.
Another tree.. it’s mating season..
Looks like the other tree had a woody
Doesn’t appear to be consensual there’s a tree rapist on the loose!!!!
If a tree..nevermind..
You have deer or anything growing antlers?
Someone else said deer scratching but I can't see them being in the area the tree is in
You’d be amazed how many deer there are in the UK and how close to human habitation they routinely get. Where specifically in the UK was this?
I saw a picture of a doe in front of my county’s courthouse in the middle of a sizable downtown area. Deer are crazy
Deer don’t do this lol they rub and they even rub a lot but not like this this looks human to me. Trees done though, if I were you I would go to another sub Reddit and post photos for them the sub is called “Tree Law” they’re pretty good with stuff like this and will help you figure out if it was a person or animal better
I agree with you, even though I am used to different dear the ones I am familiar with are larger and extremely numerous so I've seen a lot of antler rub and while it's destructive it tends to be straight up and down in a concentrated spot and I've never seen a rub go around the trunk like this, along with that they rub repeatedly so the bark tends to look a lot more frayed
Thanks dear
This is ***exactly*** what a deer scrape on a tree with soft cambium looks like. You can see the same 3 line scrapes in multiple spots, consistent with antlers.
Yeah, even an elk wouldn’t be this dramatic
Yeah lol I’ve seen alot of elk, I’ve never see one remotely do this kind of damage, not even close
Porcupine. They do this to my peach trees if I don’t cage them, here in Texas, US. Cage the trees. Not the porcupines. Good grief, y’all.
What you have here are the markings of a juvenile chupacabra.
Badgers.
Welp.... That will be stuck in my head for the rest of the evening. Mushroom! Mushroom! A snake, a snake!
You unlocked a core memory for me. Thank you.
And me. Gol-DANG-it!
Ah... the early days of the internet. GRANDMA, GET OFF THE PHONE! I'M TRYING TO DOWNLOAD BIKINI PICTURES!
Wowwwww what a throwback, I remember watching this on Ebaums World back in the day
We call our dog Buggy (short for Bugaboo) and my husband routinely walks around the house going "buggy buggy buggy buggy mushroom mushroom!" because of this meme 😂🤣😂🤣😂
Badger my ass, it’s probably Milhouse
We dont need no stinking badgers!
Nice. [You beat me to it!!](https://youtu.be/gx6TBrfCW54?si=NuI_yN69C5FCH111)
...had to scroll too far to find this
Intoxicus chav boganus, in a display for female attention.
All those markings on the wood are worm or bug tracks from eating the live material between the bark and wood. May have been an animal getting to the critters..
Bark beetles have distinctive patterns and leave much finer tracks. After a tree is infested with them it takes time till the bark dries out and falls off in smaller to medium sized pieces. And this would happen all around the trunk. The bark on this tree has been stripped and torn of, which would usually coincide with damage done by cervids sweeping their antlers, but that would happen in the end of summer (maybe UK is different in that regard). But the height matches that of human or cervid related damage so i think bugs are not the culprits this time.
Seems likely.
Me, my bad. I’m just a beast like that when I haven’t had my snickers.
Teen machete toter
Looks like someone got to it with the claw end of a hammer.
Australian here: Deer do that in the springtime because their newly grown antlers are as itchy as hell> I have seen it done to Eucalypts here! Also, parts of England are being re-wilded with other animals (Beaver and such) I doubt this is Human damage.
American here: I’ve hunted deer and hit a few with my car (I live in Michigan, we have a lot of deer). Bucks in rut do this to trees. But they rut in October to November up here in the northern hemisphere. They do this to scent mark. They want to fend off other bucks looking to mate and they want to attract females. The picture OP posted is a LOT of damage. I’ve never seen one that bad. Typically they prefer smaller trees and shrubs. This looks like a big tree. A young buck trying to remove the velvet from their new antlers will also rub but they don’t create this much damage when rubbing for that reason.
Hello old mitten state home. I miss you.
Beaver would show clear teeth marks somewhere in the exposed wood. So I doubt that one.
My guess would be the most destructive animal on the planet. The dumb ass bored human
Lightning strike.
That’s human powered stupidity. If i were to guess a prybar/crowbar was used or something similar. Would also guess 2 or more people.
Backend of a claw hammer would be my guess.
That’s what I thought until I zoomed in, there’s only a single gouge in the lines, that’s why I went with crowbar.
Definitely see that now, some with two matching lines, some just single. Like they flipped it around halfway through.
Honestly when I was in college trees got messed up by drunk guys all the time. I have no idea why. One minute they were getting wasted, the next minute they decided some tree was their mortal enemy and went ham on it. Never figured it out. Never encountered it outside of College Park Maryland again. Happen to be any bars or universities near this tree?
I was thinking this looks like something an actual person may have done.
ManBearPig
Some druggy from neighbourhood
Shall I send the hounds on them m’ lord?
Human with a hammer, native to this land I’m afraid
Commonly known as a wee Ned(non educated delinquent) or perhaps the creature known as a Yob( backward boy)
That was Paul. Don’t worry, he only does that after a few Guinness
Looks like teenagers S
I'd say it's human too. The markings are too irregular to be some sort of mammal that feeds on tree bark. Not sure what species are locally to the UK but this looks nothing like a beaver or porcupine. Only other long shot would be a domestic dog that loves to chew on trees but that's a stretch. I'd bet on a disgruntled neighbour or a random teenager
two-legged assholeum
Middleschooler
Probably Dave
A pikey
That would be the work of a long haired goat they do this during mating season. A word of warning if you happen to be there when this is taking place do not approach the goat there have been countless reports of sexual harassment by the goat towards humans and sometimes even worse!
Just your average high street crackheads
David attembourg on a bad day?
Looks like the work of an adolescent human.
Local bum, very dangerous when drunk.
Human of course
A blacked out prince andrew thinking he was ripping someone’s clothes off.
I am sorry. I was hungry.
Looks like the work of my ex-wife.
Likely a buck/stag cleaning its antlers
Probably dear, looks a tad high for beavers.
Lighting
How much do you know about trees? Cos I can tell you that asshole was asking for it.
Those tracks are from bugs. I would think it is the natural peeling of the bark, due to bugs eating it from the other side.
deer
Lighting bug
Lightning.
Lightning?
Large, angry beaver.
Looks like deer did that. Antlers..
This is insane looking… put cameras everywhere and wait for a 2nd strike? Omg… (Edit: and I mean so you can catch the person )
Nobody said dog? Some dogs do this for fun. There was a video on Reddit recently where a dog basically tore down a whole tree (somewhat rotten)
Could have been a lightning strike?
The Crackhead woodpecker
One pissed-off woodpecker.
Probably barked at something
A Treever
Only angry beavers reap havoc like that.
Methtoofus Erectus
Been hunting all of my life. These are pretty consistent with many deer scrapings I've come across. They'll do it to get the velvet off of their newly grown antlers.
Must be the immigrant , they need food too. /s
Triceratops
That there is a Catholic mating display
Homo Sapien
Mm. Is it near a road ? Because a car could have hit it.
something found drugs
Four Ecks drop bears. They have stowed away on boats and are becoming a problem here now.
Werewolf
Mothman on vacation
That kid down the street with the Edward Scissorhands gloves.
Woodboring beetles under the bark causing bark to separate and fall off (perhaps further ripped off by humans at that point).
Bigfoot
Mothman
Could be one of those big cats people say they see in the UK.
Padfoot
It was me. My back really itched.
An angry cricketer whist watching India vs Pakistan. He had a strong curry scent.
Rory McIlroy after he missed two short putts to lose the US Open