SU5624 : Ash dieback devastation in Holden Lane
taken 3 years ago, near to Beauworth, Hampshire, England
Holden Lane in the parish of Beauworth is a little-used single-track road which used to have about a dozen mature ash trees beside it. In October 2020 nearly all of these were ruthlessly cut down, presumably by the highways authority which was probably Hampshire County Council.
I was appalled to see the devastation that was caused. The contractors simply cut up the trees and left their remains lying in the farmer's field. They did this even when the tree itself was rooted in the road verge rather than in the field.
Most of the trees cut down were over 100 years old, as I was able to verify by counting the rings. According to Natural England ash dieback "causes leaf loss and crown dieback and can lead to the death of the tree". Note 'can' not 'will'. It did not appear to me from the condition of the remains that there was any likelihood of the trees collapsing upon the road any time soon. But it seems people just cut down any tree showing signs of ash dieback without exercising any common sense or arboricultural expertise.
Replacement trees planted today will not be seen in their splendour by anyone now alive.