Our Oak Trees Threatened Options

[Sherlock]

As this article reports http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013...rpillar-england our oak trees are increasingly under threat from processionary moths.

It will be a national, and local, tragedy if we lose our oaks - arguably our national tree. Particularly so as it seems earlier action could have dealt with the moths effectively.

The moth has taken hold in Pangbourne. Has anyone come across cases in Newbury and the surrounding countryside? I'd also be interested to know whether reported them and what sort of response you received.

The Forestry Commission site here http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-74CE39 advises that cases should be reported to your local council. A quick search of www.westberks.gov.uk didn't identify any specific advice so I guess we should phone 01635 42400.

(Incidentally, WBC web team, entering westberks.gov.uk (omitting the www) returns an error page. You might want to fix that.)

[newres]

(Incidentally, WBC web team, entering westberks.gov.uk (omitting the www) returns an error page. You might want to fix that.)

Brian B on newbury net has been telling user23 this for years.

[Simon Kirby]

Bit of an unknown quantity the oak processionary moth, and it's difficult to tell from the Forestry Commission's site how serious a problem they believe it to be. It was unthinkable that England should lose such a characteristic tree as the elm, but Dutch Elm Disease killed almost all of the big trees in just ten years so the threat has to be taken seriously. Oaks along with several other species are already threatened by Phytophthora ramorum (a relative of the potato blight that causes the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s and 50s) so it's a worry as the OPM doesn't appear to have an effective predator here yet. As with Ash Die Back, I'm hopeful because oaks are largely seed-grown so there's some considerable genetic diversity to fight any new threat, but it would be really grievous to lose big mature trees as they are so iconic.

If you see oak processionary moth there's a forestry commission page to report it here.

Again, like with Ash Die Back, it seems that the disease may have come into the country on infected stock. It's just so frustrating that we need to import what we could grow natively, and I note that some of the recent council plantings of oaks in Wash Common and Northcroft are not even native English Oak but are American red oak! *grinds teeth*

[Sherlock]

Frustrating to say the least, Simon. Walking to the west of Newbury yesterday there were many distressed and dead oaks. I know that the dreaded sudden oak death has been with us for a while. We have a real tragedy on our hands and it's difficult to understand why it's received so little attention in the press compared with ash dieback.

[Sherlock]

Brian B on newbury net has been telling user23 this for years.

Seriously? It's very easy to fix using forwarding and I can't imagine why they haven't done so. I habitually omit the www and in 99% of cases the site will load.

[Sherlock]

Perhaps it's a UK government thing: for example, compare gov.uk with usa.gov. But newbury.gov.uk works fine. Very odd.

[gel]

This from NWN; unsure if image is a generic moth:


http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2013/toxic-caterpillar-alert

Specific advice on Forestery Comm'n site;

OPM caterpillars are most easily recognised by their distinctive habit of moving about in late spring and early summer in nose-to-tail processions, from which they derive their name, and the fact that they almost exclusively live in and feed on oak trees.

They also build distinctive white, silken webbing nests in oak trees and leave white, silken trails on the trunks and branches in early summer. These become discoloured after a short time, and more difficult to see as a result.

[dannyboy]

Good news I say - at least Oak Furniture Land won't be chopping down forests in the third world.