A new approach to ash dieback

We have been here since 2015 - and as we have thrived and grown - this ash has slowly succumbed to ash dieback. This is a hideous disease which I have written about on earlier blogs. The majestic weeping ash at Armstrong Cottages were felled earlier this year because of it.

I wasn't shocked this morning, when I heard, before I saw, the chainsaws. This is because Ian Longstaff had kindly warned me last week that the tree would be having work done on it.

'Work done on it'? I asked 'Not being felled?'

'No' Ian confirmed. 'Being pollarded'.

My heart fairly leapt in my chest. This was terrific news.

'How come'? I asked.

Ian responded that he had been instructed to pollard (cut off the top and branches of a tree to encourage new growth) in the hope the tree might healthily regenerate.

This tree did need to have work done on it, some of its limbs were likely to fall, and a child could have been playing beneath, or a dog sniffing, or anyone passing by. So for safety, I knew that.

Here is the Ash Dieback Disease Guide for Tree Owners, from which the advice above is taken.

Let us hope these beautiful iconic trees learn to fight back against this dreadful disease. In the meantime, let us hope people will not just chop them down, without giving thought to the options.