Ash dieback: Scale of devastation in British woodlands is revealed in National Trust drone footage

Drone footage taken by the National Trust has revealed the extent of the devastation being wrought on British woodlands by ash dieback, a deadly fungal infection. The shots taken this autumn show trees dying in Hanging Wood, part of the Trust-administered Hughenden Estate in Buckinghamshire. Some 300 ash trees on the estate will need to be felled this year in the interests of public safety -- with many more left to decay and create homes for wildlife. However, the Trust warned, this is a mere fraction of the 40,000-odd trees that will need cutting down in total across the lands they manage in the UK. Ash dieback -- though to have originated in Asia before spreading as a result of the global plant trade -- is caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus.