A MAJOR survey of Scotland’s tree stocks is under way to assess the scale of a fungal disease which is threatening to wipe out the nation’s ash trees.
• Fungal disease Chalara ash dieback is threatening Scotland’s ash trees
• Over 100,000 ash trees have been destroyed in the UK
• Disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback, leading to tree death
More than 150 Forestry Commission staff and a Scottish Government team are working round the clock to look for signs of Chalara ash dieback.
Any ash trees flagged as highly suspicious in the survey will be revisited within 24 hours by staff experienced in sample collection. Any samples taken are being sent for rapid laboratory analysis.
In the last six weeks 100,000 ash trees have been destroyed in the UK.
The survey, which is on a scale unprecedented in Scotland, is covering nearly 80,000 square kilometres and is expected to be completed by tomorrow night.
In February the disease was found in a consignment of trees sent from a nursery in the Netherlands to a nursery in Buckinghamshire, England.
Since then it has been found in a number of locations in England and Scotland, including East Anglia, a car park in Leicester and Forestry Commission woodland at Knockmountain, near Kilmacolm, in Inverclyde.
A small number of young trees have been destroyed in the Carrbridge area of the Cairngorms National Park, although test results have yet to come back.
A UK-wide investigation is underway to trace the original source of the diseased trees. The commission said all of the sites had received stocks of young ash plants from nurseries within the past five years.
Further cases have also been confirmed in the nursery trade.
It is expected to take several days to establish whether or not the deadly fungus has been stopped from spreading into the wider environment and native woodlands.
Chlara dieback of ash is caused by the fungus Chalara fraxinea.
The disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and it can lead to tree death.
Ash trees suffering with the newly identified pathogen have been found widely across Europe, with disease killing up to 90 per cent of ash trees in some areas of Denmark.
These have included forest trees, trees in urban areas such as parks and gardens, and also young trees in nurseries.
Paul Wheelhouse, Environment and Climate Change Minister, said: “Currently, we have just two confirmed cases in Scotland but we expect that number to rise as the survey progresses.
“We need to take unprecedented action to get a quick snapshot of how our ash trees are faring in the wider forest and woodland environment.”