There are some notable Horse Chestnut specimens in The Walks – mainly in the avenues. With their fat sticky buds in winter, large ‘palmate’ (hand-like) leaves, beautiful ‘candelabra’ flowers in spring and conkers in the autumn, they are one of our most recognisable and popular UK trees. But did you know they come from the Balkans and were only introduced in the 17th century? In recent decades, they have been afflicted with two problems. One is the Cameraria leaf miner moth, the tiny grubs of which burrow through the leaves and turn them brown long before autumn. The second is a bacterial infection that can lead to stem bleeds. Together these problems can weaken the tree and lead to other infections and decay. Stress from climate change may be another factor?
