Native Oak Disease.

[Varan Komodosky]

Recently I took a trip to Sussex. On the way down through the south I was shocked to see an immense amount of dead and dying Oak trees. I am fairly reliably informed - by a German countryside ranger no less - that they have contracted a fungal infection to which there is no cure and that affected trees will be dead within the next two or three years, that most if not all of the Oaks in the South of England will contract the disease and will die out within a decade or so.

Hardly cheerful news, particularly when you consider the vast amount of species that rely on the Oak.

It's easy to recall the devastation of Dutch Elm Disease and the disappearance of the Elm from our countryside. Nothing has sprung up to fill the gaps in our woodlands and hedgerows that the passing of the graceful Elm has left.

Is anyone aware of any initiatives to combat this disease?

[Jacky]

If it's what I think it is, you're talking about Sudden Oak Death and if you Google it you'll find some information there.