Ashes to Ashes

It is reported that the National Trust (NT) will have cut down and burn some 40,000 Ash trees on their lands (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/02/40000-trees-face-felling-by-national-trust-after-surge-in-ash-dieback). The trees have been infected with the fungal ash dieback disease. The spread of the disease seems to have been greatly accelerated by the weather conditions earlier in the year. The Covid-19 pandemic has also prevented rangers and volunteers from removing dying trees as rapidly as is needed to control transmission. The whole exercise will cost the NT some £2m and will change, forever, many much-loved and evocative locations.