Forest Research draws up canker plan

Forest Research is to develop guidance on managing and drawing up controlling strategies for the bleeding canker tree blight, reports Horticulture Week.
“This disease has rapidly become widespread throughout Britain over the past five years,” said a representative for the research arm of the Forestry Commission.
Bleeding canker of horse chestnut was caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas [...]

Date palm disease threatens livelihoods in Yemen

A disease which kills date palm trees, on which thousands of people depend for a living, has returned to Hadhramaut Governorate in southern Yemen, reports the UN news service IRIN.
Khalid Saleh, 55, could not believe his eyes when he saw his smallholding in Doan District (some 250km north of Mukalla) hit yet again by the [...]

Old elm ‘may help save other trees’

Experts hope an elm tree that survived the ravages of Dutch elm disease could hold the key to the species survival in the UK, the BBC News website reports.

The elm was discovered in a Worcestershire hedgerow, near Pershore, two years ago.
It had remained unnoticed because it was assumed all elms in the area had been [...]

Battle on to save Scotland’s red squirrels

More than £1m is to be spent over the next three years on saving Scotland’s red squirrels and protecting routes into their northern strongholds, the BBC News website reports.
The number or reds has been in decline since the arrival of the grey squirrel from North America in the 19th Century.
Greys compete with reds for food [...]

World Conker Championship ‘in doubt’

Bleeding cankers and leaf miner moths are threatening this year’s World Conker Championship, say organisers.