Ash Die-Back Disease is being treated as a quarantine pest under national emergency measures.

Ash dieback, also known as Chalara dieback of ash is a serious disease that is killing ash trees right across northern Europe. Usually fatal, it causes leaf loss, lesions on the bark and dieback of the tree crown. The disease was first identified in the UK in 2012.

There are several key signs to look out for on ash trees but as all of these symptoms can also be caused by other problems, it is important to take expert advice such as that offered by Tree & Garden Services, Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

Symptoms include dark lesions which appear on the trunk at the base of dead side shoots. These are often long, thin and diamond-shaped. The tips of shoots shrivel and turn black and leaves blacken and die – this can look like frost damage. The veins and stalks of leaves turn brown and infected saplings will have dead tops and side shoots. Mature trees often display dieback of twigs and branches in the crown of the tree, but with bushy growth further down the branches where new shoots have been produced. Small white fruiting bodies can be found on blackened leaf stalks between July and October.