Much has of course been written in the past week about Ash trees, and the shock news that the fungal disease which has killed up to 90% of trees across large part of Europe has found its way here.

You can read the views of our Conservation Director, Martin Harper, here.

From a gardening perspective, this is such a common tree that there will be plenty of people out there who will have an Ash tree in their garden and will now be fearing the worst. 

There's no Ash currently in my garden, but the house where I grew up and where my parents still live had three large Ash trees at the foot of the garden, a constant and powerful presence soaring up 40-foot tall . One fell in a gale several years ago, but two are still standing.

In them over the years I've seen all three species of woodpecker, Treecreepers, Spotted Flycatchers, Yellowhammers, Redpolls - the works! Blue Tits always nest in the box tied to the trunk. Redwings and Fieldfares pause there daily during the  winter. And the Jackdaws pouring out of their roost in the wood a mile away stop by in the safety of their branches.

And yet, despite the thousands of photos I've taken over the years, I find I've never taken one showing those Ash trees in all their glory.

I have a photo of the Rooks which have nested there for the past few years:

I have photos of glorious Ash trees out on the downs:

And last week I took a walk through a gorgeous Ash wood, where the Ivy cloaks the stems as it does naturally with so many Ash trees because of their late-emerging and airy foliage:

But I've never thought to take a shot of the trees that helped define my childhood.

Oh how we so often take things for granted until it's too late. Let's hope it isn't too late for all of Britain's 80 million Ash trees.

  • What I find hard to understand is that the fungus was identified in a nursery back in February.  Why didn't the government take action then?  Why leave it another 8 months before bringing in a ban on imports?  Why are we importing ash at all?  I know it is late in the day but it is time we closed the door and introduced the same laws that Australia and New Zealand enforce to protect our landscape.