Country diary: A plague among the ash trees | Mary Montague

Ederney, County Fermanagh: Twelve years of the dieback fungus is an existential threat to Northern Ireland's ash. The unthinkable is fast becoming unavoidableDriving along this country road, John's voice is a metronome: "That's gone. That's gone. And that one."From the passenger seat, I stare out at the blur of trees. A few are visibly affected by ash dieback, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, the fungal disease that is an existential threat to the UK and Ireland's native ash. What was once the litheness of a living tree acquires a stark angularity when it's dead wood. However, many of these ash trees have retained a profusion of lacy foliage. Then I notice where the canopy has been punctured by the skeletal fingers of blunted twigs. Thin bracelets of leaves decorate the lower branches, but there are no terminal buds. Continue reading...