ash tree disease

So are the Tayside beavers not Eurasian beavers as well as the ones from Norway that were taken to Knapdale?

If anyone is wondering, the Tayside beavers came from Bavaria (cue drinking song as beavers in lederhosen and silly hats slap their tails against their bare thighs)

Getting back to the poor trees. There are indeed more of them than us. 80 million is the estimate!
Vertical scarring is supposed to be a way you can diagnose it.
I feel sad about the really old trees - the oldest are probably those that have been hacked back in hedge lines, so that they have re-sprouted from stumps at some stage. Apparently this greatly increases lifespan.
Those in charge of woodlands need to start planning now and planting:
Hornbeam
Beech
Small leaved lime
Spanish chestnut

and some of the smaller natives, field maple, cherry, rowan , yew
I have been noticing this week that due to our wonderful Parks Trust we have lots of field maple and norwegian maple - all brightly butter coloured this week - and not a sycamore in sight.

There are two species of beaver: the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber).

Beavers are total vegetarians and do not eat fish. They will only build dams in they can find no suitable habitat with conditions which meet their needs. Knapdale is ideal for them.

The beavers re-introduced in the controlled trial in Knapdale are Eurasian ones from Norway, and are genetically very similar to the original Scottish ones.

However, there are also possibly 20 - 50 illegal immigrant beavers in Tayside, probably brought in by private individuals and released independently and without the observation which the Knapdale ones are getting. These are from further south-east in Europe (I will pinpoint where tomorrow when I have checked with a friend), and are genetically different - messing up the native gene pool! Tayside beavers

BTW the "Highland Tiger" or Scottish wildcat can interbreed with feral domestic moggies, and its genes are being diluted too. A project has been going on to check the genetic makeup of all the wildcats that can be trapped and tested (not an easy task) to see just what the position is. There are many fewer Scottish wildcats in the wild than amur tigers, but conserving tigers has a far higher profile than studying a native species often confused with house pussycats that have gone awol. wildcat genetics

We need to check the ash trees on our land, but I suspect it may be too late in the season to be sure of anything. The worrying thing is that if you do find any diseased plants on your land it is your responsibility to remove and burn it! An expense for larger landowners but a total nightmare for individual gardeners!

And me! But what are wels?

Beavers have been re-introduced. They are were a native species. I hope they thrive.

I understand that all cases found in Yorkshire so far are in nurseries.

I am sick of people bringing whatever foreign bodies (this does not include immigrant people, of course ) they like into the country. We have Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, wels, signal crayfish, harlequin ladybirds, b**y beavers, coypu, mink etc. etc. etc. many out of control.
I am particularly sick of the people who claim to be 'experts' with regard to things which have not been tested (e.g. beavers again).

On the other hand, if it had never been allowed we would have very few garden flowers. Whether a new item, flora or fauna, is going to become a problem is simply not known until it is too late.

Depressed! It is everywhere. But if you look at the distribution it looks like some blew over from Denmark (cluster in the top of the East Anglian bulge, not related to imports).
The environment secretary has had another meeting. Sigh. Talk of managing leaf litter as this will spread disease next year. Why do I think this is a hopeless notion - because the entire country is covered in dead ash leaves this week, that's why. Suspect there are more ash trees than people in UK.
I was walking past our local wood yesterday and trying to picture it without the ash. It would not be a wood. An area of scrub with a scattering of oak trees.

The disease has now spread into the North-east and I think there has been a further spread in the south.

Thanks Jodi that will be helpful.

The woods here are due to be inspected this week, a few trees are showing signs of the disease

Thanks, jodi. That's useful.

This is a really good video showing exactly what to look for and the map shows where the disease has been confirmed.

www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara

I shall inspect them again tomorrow!

The whole idea of a spore is that it is a tough little mini seed thing that can survive a hostile period and then get going when conditions are right.
ella46 in the midlands the ash trees are all losing their leaves right now. Apparently vertical scars on the bark are diagnostic of the disease.

Just been walking down by the river to my son's house. Seen hundreds of trees but no ash trees, only young saplings. Some of them had leaves that were brown and dried up, but I don't know if that was normal for autumn or they are dying.

I don't know, ella. It might slow them down in the way winter usually slows growth down, but I doubt if cold will kill the spores. After all, fungal spores have to survive the winter just like everything else if they are to carry on living and reproducing.

I like your post Bags. If we have a lot of hard frosts and/or a period of lying snow, will that kill off the spores that are attacking the trees?

I just identified an errant sapling in my garden as an ash. I now plan to move it instead of removing it, in hopes it will survive...

The Whych elm is better able to survive Dutch elm disease than the common elm, though it can still succumb.

Dutch elm disease

Human beings per se may not be a blight upon the planet Bags but some individuals are. I've got a little list…

Millions nfk and many of them.

Good post, jess. Only time will tell whether the ash disease will be as devastating as the elm one was. Meanwhile we can only do our best and I think most people do. We are part of nature too. Sometimes I think we forget that.

I'm just as sad about the ash tree disease as anyone else, but I'm not going to flagellate myself about it, nor anyone else. I accept it has happened and perhaps some part of it may have been exacerbated by human actions, but it's established now. All we can do it try to limit the spread, if possible, and learn from mistakes. It isn't all our 'fault'. Other species affect what happens in nature too. It's the blame and guilt game that I fight against because I think it's unhealthy and achieves nothing except to distort perpspective. I do not accept that human beings are a blight upon the planet.

Elm used to be quite common too. Now they die back before they can get into proper trees.

I wonder how many ash have been planted along those new 'wildlife corridors' ie new roads.