IGNORANCE !

As these photos clearly show, this beech was topped a few years ago. Every leaf has a hair root in the tree’s root system. It’s not hard to comprehend that if whole brances are removed, the corresponding roots no longer have a function, causing them to wither and rot.

Same story; pruned too much and too late (7 years ago). A few dry summers cause this tree to die, slowly but surely.

Drought and severe pruning have caused the first beech to give up. The beech behind it was never pruned, the image speaks for itself.