The Nightmare Of Elm Disease

I watched a programme last evening about trees. I didn't know that there are lots of healthy elm trees in Brighton. Brighton and Hove Council introduced a plan to control Dutch elm disease in the seventies.

I drove to Burnham on Crouch this morning and had a lovely chat with my family at my sister's house. When I lived in this area of Essex as a child elm trees strode across the landscape and the family home was on an elm tree lined avenue. So sad that they all succumbed to Dutch elm disease. Constable's Hay Wain, a picture painted on the Essex/Suffolk border, featured elm trees which are no longer seen in that landscape. When I came here in the late sixties the ancient hedges bordering the property contained elms but they all died after becoming infected by the fungus.

A slight ray of hope. I haven't been able to cut the front lawn as the mower isn't back. Some elm suckers have come up so the roots of the trees aren't dead. I've photographed a rather worn comma butterfly on one.