The sere, the yellow leaf...

Fallen leaves in the water butt: the large yellow ones are from the fig but others have dropped from the big ash tree that stands close by the house. Most of the trees around us are ash, down the lane and around the fields and in the woods. Now there is news that a serious fungal disease could destroy most of the country's ash trees, as it has done in Denmark where 94% have gone.

Ash die-back fungus has been discovered in East Anglia and Kent and is thought to have been imported via tree nurseries (I can't imagine why ash trees need to be imported, they grow so easily.) A ban has been placed on this now but it may be too late. A gloomy thought for a gloomy day.