Hounslow Council has asked members of the public to keep a watch for the Ash Dieback fungus while out in the borough’s parks and open spaces.

The fungus, called Chalara fraxinea, causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and is rapidly spreading throughout Europe. About a third of the trees in the borough are thought to be Ash trees.

A Council spokesman said; “We have been very aware of this for some time, and our contractors have been regularly monitoring our ash trees for any signs of the fungus. Thankfully we have yet to find any, and we hope this continues to be the case, but if we do it will be reported to the Forestry Commission."

As the leaves are currently falling off trees it will become more difficult to spot symptoms but the Council has made a number of leaflets available to the public with photographs and information on Ash Dieback fungus.

In Europe, Ash trees suffering from symptoms have been found in forest trees, in urban areas such as parks and gardens, and also in young trees in nurseries.The disease has not yet been found in the natural environment in Britain although it was recently intercepted in a consignment of infected trees sent from a nursery in the Netherlands to a nursery in the south of England. It has also been reported in Northern Ireland.

Chalara fraxinea is being treated as a quarantine pest under national emergency measures and it is important that suspected cases of the disease are reported.

November 17, 2012