Ash tree flowers

One of the curious things about deciding to take a photo every day - which on one level could be a bonkers thing to do - is that in between doing the many things I have to do at work, part of my brain thinks about photo opportunities. And that means I am noticing things I otherwise might miss.

I photo'd emerging Ash flower buds on Sunday in Bowland, but these by the Irwell in Salford are much more advanced. I look at Ash trees with a certain poignancy these days. There are apparently estimated to be 130 million in the UK, and in some areas they are the dominant tree (Dovedale is one big Ash wood), but we could loose them all in the next 10 - 15 years as Ash dieback disease takes hold. Hopefully some will prove resistant.

One of the unintended consequences of human trade and globalisation. In my first ever "real job", and as a sideline, I had to advise on dutch elm disease in a part of East Yorkshire, for which I was monumentally unqualified. But the Collins tree guide to Britain and some training in symptoms to look for did wonders. Now mature elms are part of our history, and landscape painting by the likes of Constable. A shame if the Ash goes the same way.