Woodland Management Update November 2020: Ash Dieback

Many of you – like us! – enjoy spending time in our beautiful woodland here at Lady’s Wood. Like all woodland, we need to manage the trees, flora and fauna for future generations to enjoy as we all do today.

Earlier this year, some of you may have read about our coppicing and woodland regeneration projects that we started in February.  These projects have been a great success so far and we are looking forward to seeing how mother nature treats us for our hard work this coming spring.

This work aside (which we will continue into the future), we are sad to say that we are in a region of the UK that is badly affected by Ash Dieback, a disease which has unfortunately taken hold of a huge number of our native Ash trees (Fraxinus Excelsior). 

Ash dieback is a serious disease affecting ash trees, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (previously named Chalara fraxinea). The disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees and can lead to the death of the tree.

After long discussions with local authorities, the Forestry Commission and arborists we have come to the sad conclusion that we need to remove a proportion of the Ash trees from Lady’s Wood.  There are two main reasons for this:

1. It is in the best interest of you the public and our team’s health and safety due to the risk of falling “deadwood” or branches from the badly affected trees.
2. To help the wood regenerate and recover quicker.  To do this we will assess the wood’s natural regeneration over the next few years and if/when necessary replant other native trees to help restore the woodland.

When you return to shoot with us again, you will notice some areas have been cleared and some individual trees removed for the above reasons. Although it looks a little raw at the moment, please bear in mind that none of this has been done without very careful consideration and is far from what we wanted to do.

We do firmly believe that the work we are currently carrying out will be worthwhile in the long term and although not imminent, in time it will improve the biodiversity, structure and health of the woodland for generations to come.

If you would like further information on Ash Dieback please visit the Woodland Trust’s guide here. You can find out more about our other woodland management by clicking here. 

If you would like to speak to a member of the team then please email shoot@ladyswood.co.uk or call 01454 294546