Cardinham Woods willow refuses to die after storm damage

Walk the Bodmin Beast trail at Cardinham Woods at the moment and one fallen tree is doing anything but lying down. Storm Gorreti brought it partway to the ground earlier this year, and instead of dying where it fell, the willow has thrown up dozens of new shoots straight from its horizontal trunk.

A tree that adapted rather than gave up

The willow stood beside the Bodmin Beast, the woodland’s well-used cycling route, when the storm caught it and partially toppled the trunk. Left where it fell, the tree kept living. The fallen stem is still alive, and it has responded by sending up a thick flush of upright shoots along its length, turning what could have been a dead log into an active source of new growth.

Cardinham Woods, run by Forestry England, shared the sight on its Facebook page as a reminder of how tenacious some trees can be after storm damage.

Willows and the phoenix tree effect

Willows are known among foresters for their powers of regeneration, and this is a textbook case in the making. Forestry England says the tree may eventually develop into what is known as a phoenix tree, one that begins a second life through a flush of new stems after being damaged or brought down, effectively regrowing itself from a horizontal starting point rather than a vertical one.

📷Credit: Cardinham Woods - Forestry England

Spot it for yourself

The tree sits beside the Bodmin Beast, so anyone cycling the trail has a decent chance of passing it. Forestry England is encouraging visitors to keep an eye out for the woodland survivor as they ride past, one small sign among the trees that a storm’s damage does not always have the last word.