A Walk along the Wye from Builth Wells

 In 2013 I photographed this Black-poplar on the Wye bank east of Builth.

Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia, Black-poplar

These magnificent trees have long been in the county and are considered to be native in England but are probably introductions in Breconshire where they may have been planted to provide timber. Most trees in the county are males, making natural reproduction difficult...

We visited it again as a botany group yesterday only to find it sadly changed:

The tree-surgery may well have been advisable - to prevent it falling under its own weight into the river - and it is clearly responding vigorously to the treatment ! We noticed that trunk is very hollow at the bottom...

Just to prove it clearly the same tree here it is in 2013 before coming into leaf:

The tree was first recorded in in 1996 and was identified as the native subspecies in 2005 by Mike Porter. The first picture above is featured in Mike's Flora of the county.