Old Bramley apple tree

more phots to follow

The bigish tree you can see in some of the phots is a Walnut, probably as equally old as the Bramley and equally neglected, except by the squirrels.

You're being too kind to it. The tree is growing out of control. It's going to require a lot of work - probably a couple of days up a step ladder - and a few years before you can bring it back into cropping.

Unfortunately, your kindness has now really invigorated the tree and it becoming a vigorous monster. It looks like it has almost doubled in canopy size since the kindness started and knowing Bramley it will continue to try to take over the garden.

All those long upright shoots (yes, hundreds of them!) should have been removed or cut back to a very short length in mid-late July.

If a mature tree is a good size, cropping well and still sending out some new shoots each year it's best to let it go a bit hungry and thirsty because such trees produce the best fruit and more blossom.

The best I can suggest is give the tree as much competition as possible - grass, weeds, shrubs - in order to slow its ability to grab water and nutrients.

Then either:
Leave the tree alone and in in a few years time is growth rate will have slowed and cropping will resume (although the tree will be very large by then)
or
Remove all those upright 'whippy' shoots in the next few weeks (yes, it's going to be a lot of work!) and in mid-late July after it has re-grown them, cut them all back to about three buds (yes, it's going to be a lot more work.

and

Consider some 'root pruning' - go to the outer edge of the canopy spread and push your spade into the ground in a circle around the tree, pushing the spade in as deep as it'll go to chop off all the outermost roots.

Root pruning can very quickly calm down an out of control tree and bring it back into cropping.

So all those bluebells need to go back in now!

HI FB
Any idea on the growing fungus in picture 8?
Or does the tree live with it for the time being?

The fungus is feeding off dead wood in the wound, plus wood that once connected the now-removed branch to the roots.
That's why pruning cuts should not be more than an inch across at most - anticipate troublesome shoots and branches before they get so thick that the wound will not heal quickly enough to prevent fungus entering and hollowing out the tree.
The fungus will already have found its way deep into the tree and will be feeding off any other dead bits it finds inside.
The tree will eventually be hollowed-out but the outermost inch of wood will remain alive.

I haven't tried to identify the fungus because if the fungus is going to kill the tree it's too late to stop it (and millions of its spores will be scattered all over your local area), but given how strongly the tree is growing I don't think the fungus is doing anything more than feeding off dead wood in the same way maggots have sometimes been used to eat dead flesh in nasty human wounds while leaving the live flesh alone.

There are 2 hopes of that, no hope and Bob Hope

FB
You are a star, I will get the wife up there on her ladders this morning, I will be supervising.