Ash dieback in the park

You might have noticed signs appearing on some of the ash trees in the park. In short, the Council has conducted a survey of ash trees around the City including our park and has concluded a large number are affected by the ash dieback disease. The disease (caused by a fungus; Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) causes weakness in the tree with initial signs being wilting leaves, then structural weakness in the trunk, leading to the tree being prone to toppling over. Obviously this poses a safety risk to park users and diseased trees must be felled.

So what does this mean for park users? It will profoundly alter the appearance of the park. Naturally the Council will not fell all ash trees overnight, but the disease affects a majority of them and over time we will lose them. Some of these are likely quite old and are sizeable enough that their absence will be obvious. The Council plan to replace the trees, presumably with other species, but the timeline on any of this not known.

See also this article in the Glasgow Times for more information.