A POPULAR beauty spot in Herefordshire is due to be stripped of a large amount of its trees as they suffer from a spreading disease.
The work will require traffic management as the felling will be taking place next to the A49 road to the south of the entrance to Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum, between Hereford and Leominster.
Traffic management is due to start on October 17 and will include some lane closures and traffic lights.
This management will be in place from 9.30am to 3.30pm daily, on weekdays only, and is due to end on November 11.
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The works are being done to remove diseased ash and other trees that are at risk of falling into the road.
Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum will see a large scale of trees felled
Ash is the dominant species of tree in this part of the wood and many of them are showing signs of dieback due to the fungal disease Hymenoscyphus fraxineus also known as ‘chalara’.
The disease is affecting woodlands across the UK and has already caused widespread damage in continental Europe.
Visible symptoms include dead branches, blackening of leaves and discoloured stems.
Trees may eventually drop limbs, collapse, or fall as the tree rots from the inside.
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Staff carry out regular surveys of the woods to monitor tree safety and infectious diseases and identified the dieback in the trees several years ago.
The degree of dieback is now sufficiently severe that the trees need to be felled before they become dangerous.
In recent years some oak trees have already fallen into the road.
As road closures will be required to remove the diseased ash, the opportunity is being taken to remove these oaks that have started to fall onto the A49.
Esther Clarke, reserves team manager for Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, said after the work the woods will regenerate naturally.
It will temporarily allow lighter onto the woodland floor which will encourage a flush of woodland flowers and shrubby undergrowth over the next few years, which is ideal for various animals.
“Gradually the healthy trees will grow back, and new saplings will germinate and replace the diseased ash trees,” she said.
An initial programme of felling took place earlier in the year focused on the A49 roadside to the north of the entrance.
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