Shocked to see the clearance of swathes of dappled woodland at Waresley yesterday. It’s the Wildlife Trust’s response to ash dieback: the mortality rate is extremely high and the dead trees would become dangerous leading to the need to close the woods to the public. Seedling have been left in the hope that some of them may develop resistance to the disease. Sections will be left to regenerate naturally; others are being planted with a mix of locally native trees with the aim of providing a more resilient woodland in the future.
Background from the www:
‘Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is a fungus that causes ash dieback, a chronic fungal disease in Europe characterised by leaf loss and crown dieback in infected trees. The fungus was first scientifically described in 2006. … Trees reported dying in Poland in 1992 are now believed to have been infected with this pathogen. It is now widespread in Europe, with up to 85% mortality rates recorded in plantations and 69% in woodlands.’
‘Ash dieback originated in Asia. It doesn’t cause much damage on its native hosts of the Manchurian ash and the Chinese ash in its native range.’
‘The spores of this fungus can travel in the wind so it is possible that it arrived in the UK naturally however it was also inadvertently imported on ash saplings. The UK was importing thousands of ash plants from infected parts of Europe until a ban came into place in 2012.’
A biodiversity Armageddon is not something happening only in some remote corner of the world. It’s here, now.