Witches' broom and lichen

It started out bright and sunny but clouded over in the middle of the day and remained so when I went for a walk round the other ponds. I must h ave passed this tree dozens of times but only noticed the abundant witches' brooms today. They caused by damage to the tree and could be from quite a number of things. These have obviously been present for some time given the amount of lichen on them.
Earlier it was church and in between other things I've crocheted, knitted and read.