Progress of the old rowan

At the bottom of the old rowan new shoots are growing on and near the still living branch that you can see in this pic taken in March:

 

Like the live branch, the shoots are growing from the base of the tree. What surprises me is that they are right next to the root fomes fungus (Heterobasidion annosum) that's also growing down there. I've put a small orange arrow near the bottom of the left photo below to show where the fungus is. I don't know if the live branch and the new shoots will overcome the fungus's attempt to kill the tree but they are having a jolly good try. Time will tell. There is more of the fungus fruit body on the other side of the old trunk and rhizomorphs growing right up under bark.

Also near the base of the old trunk I found a tiny wild rose the other day. It's raining heavily just now so I won't go and check if it's still there or whether its leaves have been eaten by the roe doe who was eating the umbrella tree a few minutes ago. She just looked at me when I went out to pick up my pots of thyme and parsley that I'd put out for some rain-watering. She'd probably eat those as well, you see, though possibly not in the middle of the day just outside the back door. In the photo on the right below, the "umbrella tree" is the small willow with the convex crown on the lower right. I've trimmed the deer-stripped low branches off since I took this pic.

I keep finding rowan seedlings so we are not going to be rowanless whatever happens.

That little orange arrow may not look like much but it took me ages to work out how to do it, via Photoshop (grr) and then Pixelmator and with tips along the way from Toad!