Ashes to ashes: deadly tree disease reaches Cumbria

Ash Dieback has been spotted at ten sites in the Lake District.

The fungal disease kills nine in every ten ash trees that it infects, and is incredibly difficult to stop.

There are fears it could eventually transform the Lake District's iconic landscapes, as Greg Hoare reports:

A fungal disease that has devastated ash tree populations in Europe has arrived in Cumbria.

Ash Dieback is estimated to have killed between 60 and 90 percent of Denmark's ash trees.

It blocks water pores in the trees' leaves, causing them to wither, and diamond shaped lesions to form on the bark.

So far, the disease has been spotted at ten sites in the Lake District.