The woods are now truly a golden world but as we know it is the leaves last chance to shine prior to falling to the woodland floor and returning some more goodness to the earth. So enjoy the ranges and intensity of the season as a much darker one is on the way……
But those darker days have the potential for being much darker and perhaps even terminal for some Ash Trees.
Ash are a staple tree of our U.K. woodlands, over 80 million it is estimated, which is about 30% of the U.K. tree cover. Ash are also one of our trees that normally enjoys a log life of over 300 years. They are now under threat from a fungal disease called ASH DIEBACK. It has swept across continental Europe and already in Denmark has killed 90% of their Ash trees. The fungi attacks the top of the branches then progresses down the tree killing it as it goes; I understand that there is no cure. The tree needs to be burnt, once dead, to kill the spores.
Many years ago we had what was known as Dutch Elm disease and that was a disaster. In more recent years we have seen Sudden Oak Death, the Chestnut has a similar infection and Beech is rumoured to be suffering…..the one thing I believe they all have in common is that they are all Fungal Infections.
So for these majestic Ash trees on the edge of our local woodland their future is very uncertain….will the fungi attack them, will they escape and will a cure be found. This picture was taken to-day; overnight these trees leaves fell leaving the tree bare, that is a normal phenomena for Ash in autumn. This year we just wonder if it maybe there last year….we hope not.
I am no scientist, but one thing I do know is that all these diseases are fungal related…fungi getting into the trees and killing them, some times quickly others over a longer period. I cannot help but wonder if the current conservation practice of leaving dead timbers, after they have been felled or just simply fallen, where they are in the woodland to rot down, is actually very sound.
The logic is that the dead wood is great for insects and in turn other mammals and birds. The rotting debris does return nutrients to the land and of course allow the essential fungal process that assists all that…..a true life cycle. However I do wonder if the conservation fact is now being used as an excuse for lazy woodland management and that now we are allowing too much dead wood to just lie and rot. Nothing else has changed apart from Global warming…..I don’t know but cannot help pondering the thought.
One thing is very sure….Britain’s woodlands could look very different if we loose significant numbers of Oak, Chestnut, Beech and now Ash……all native species that are the foundations of our forests and woodland.
Ash are too much part of our countryside to loose.
30th October
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 