'Elimination' predicted for ash trees

Thanks for the info. I do recognise the Ash now, but I think I was thinking about the Sycamore. Or more likely I was confusing them into one. I don't think I would recognise an Ash or a Sycamore if they didn't have seeds at the time. They do grow much larger than I thought though.

I wonder why we were importing native trees?

Because our nurseries were not growing them quickly enough, I think.
Because so much woodland and forest has disappeared over the centuries, hence problems of flooding, etc., the Woodland Trust wanted to replant lots of trees in a hurry.
Fortunately the Woodland Trust know which ones were imported and have removed them, but do not have enough native stock to make up for it.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201603/medium-449673-sycamore-leaf.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201603/medium-950894-ash-leaves.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/201603/medium-817333-ash-twig-curve.jpg

wilma You probably would recognise them better than you think. Sycamore has leaves a bit like a Canadian maple leaf. Ash has multiple leaves arranged in pairs along twigs. The twigs curve upward and before the buds open, they look as though they have been dipped in soot or ashes.

You beat me to it Elegran. The wimber is also very different, Ash has alternate narrow/broad growth rings, light/dark when polished (snooker que, old garden spade handle) Sycamore is a white even grained wood, often used for kitchen tools.

There's a book called Why Willows Weep. and it contains lots of stories to do with the different characteristics of trees.
The ash is said to have black buds because they watched people reading and writing while sitting under the trees and the ash tree wanted to be not just the paper but the words. They curled their branches into fingers so that they might hold the pen and they dreamed it so vividly that the tips of their fingers turned black to write against the white page of the sky.

My feeling for other life on the planet isn't objective either, nor would I want it to be. But I do still "seek to achieve a completely objective relationship to reality in the natural world", as I said, which is not quite the same thing.

One can't be scientific without an objective relationship to reality, I think. Dreaming and being emotional is all very well in certain circumstances. I'm not knocking it where it's appropriate, but reality is reality is reality whatever one's feelings about anything, so while one can feel sadness at the loss of a tree species, or whatever, one can also, at the same time, know that extinctions happen whether we like it or not, and indeed happened in extremely large doses before we even existed, and one can give a shrug because of that.

Easy to identify ash in winter as it had black buds. Often confused with Rowan (Mountain Ash) in summer but Rowen bears berries and keeps witches away and the ash has keys but single ones.

I think only the female ash has keys, ours never has any but next door's was laden.

So, I wonder which species is likely to be the survivors when the rest of us is extinct?
Some form of insect no doubt.

Have to wander round with my favourite witch , Anya, so I do not make a mistake.

No way of knowing, really, jalima, though fun to speculate.

My money's on woodlice, although of course I won't be around to collect my winnings...

Elegran yes, looking at the photos, you're right about being able to tell the difference (not heard of the wimber tree though pompa).

The oak Tree is under threat from Sudden Oak Death or SOD for short. (I know!) It's caused by a fungus called Phytophthora ramorum. The Sweet Chestnut and horse chestnut are also threatened.........Oh dear, very depressing.

My money's on ants, they are taking over my garden.

That could be a new name for the house if the ash tree has to go:
'The Anthill'
might put off prospective buyers though.

I thought cockroaches were the species that would survive anything?

Yes, of course, they survived nuclear attacks and grew bigger didn't they.

They survive being stamped on anyway

WMKF, the wimber tree is common in many parts of Britain, especially those afflicted with the dyslexic weeble mite.

That dyslexic weeble mite gets everywhere!

Thatbags' post of 25 Mar 22.15, (shitting in the woods), and granjura's of 26 Mar 10.12 (use of animal manure) -
An interesting example of the interaction between human, beasts and plants. Where we are there's no mains drainage, so farmers used to use the contents of their septic tanks to spray on their fields. Also they used pig slurry and cow manure to fertilise their land. Then the maize and wheat would grow and they could feed humans and animals animals with it.
But now both uses have been banned, because the water that drains off it is too high in nitrates, so affects the drinking water in rivers and lakes.

ps forgot to say that the ban has been lifted temporarily for manure, because farmers were having problems disposing of it. Some were selling it at the roadside.