UK: Ash tree disease spreading

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/regional-news/ash-tree-disease-found-in-115-sites-1-4451219

Ash tree disease found in 115 sites

Published on Wednesday 7 November 2012 17:27

A disease threatening to devastate the UK's native ash trees has now been found in 115 sites, which now includes parts of Bedfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, the Environment Department (Defra) has said.

Cases of Chalara ash dieback have been confirmed in woodlands in six more counties - Sussex, Berkshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Bedfordshire and Northumberland - in addition to Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent and Essex where it had already been identified in the countryside.

The latest figures show the disease has been found in 61 locations in the wider countryside, as well as 39 planting sites and 15 tree nurseries, a total of 115 sites in all.

The results of an intensive survey by hundreds of officials over the weekend and this week comes as Environment Secretary Owen Paterson holds a summit with representatives of industry, conservation groups and experts to discuss the problem.

The Chalara fraxinea fungus, which causes leaf loss and crown dieback and can lead to tree death, has wiped out 90% of ash trees in some parts of Denmark and is becoming widespread throughout central Europe...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: UK: Ash tree disease spreading

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2436916/Ash-dieback-disease-500-areas-year-outbreak.html

Tree-killer fungus 'impossible to stop' as it sweeps Britain with ash dieback disease found in 500 areas a year after first outbreak

Disease out of control in the East and South East of England
Somerset confirmed as the 15th English county with the fungal disease
Outbreaks in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Of infected sites in Britain, more than half linked to imported ash trees

By Valerie Elliott
PUBLISHED: 22:34 GMT, 28 September 2013 | UPDATED: 23:25 GMT, 28 September 2013



Tree disease ash dieback is still decimating the countryside almost a year after it first struck in Britain.

The deadly fungus, which is rife across mainland Europe, is now out of control in the East and South East of England and there have been outbreaks in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Somerset was confirmed as the 15th English county with the fungal disease after staff on the National Trust?s Holnicote Estate near Minehead discovered blighted leaves on a handful of ash trees this month.

The latest official figures reveal there are 571 infected sites in Britain, with 334 linked to imported ash trees, 213 in the wider environment and 24 in nurseries.

But the actual figure could be higher because as the disease has taken hold, there has been less urgency to report new cases...