A deadly ash tree disease that could devastate the species has been confirmed at 115 sites across Britain, officials said on Wednesday.
Further cases of ash dieback have been confirmed in woodland in Sussex, Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Northumberland.
The discovery was made by a survey of woodlands carried out by plant health experts and volunteers over last weekend and the start of this week.
The results emerged as Environment Secretary Owen Paterson holds a summit to discuss the situation.
The disease, caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea, has now been confirmed in 15 nurseries, 39 planting sites and 61 countryside locations, the Department of Environment (Defra) said.
The discovery of the disease in the counties does not mean it is spreading rapidly, the department said, adding it was likely ash dieback had been present in these areas for a number of years.
“We have thrown all possible resources at this surveying exercise which has given us a much clearer picture of the distribution of the disease to inform our evidence base,” chief plant health officer Martin Ward said.
“The science on chalara is still emerging and the more evidence we have, the greater our knowledge and understanding of this disease and the better we are able to tackle it.”
The fungus, which causes leaf loss and can kill trees outright, has already wiped out 90 percent of all ash trees in Denmark and is spreading in central Europe. There are around 80 million ash trees, a native British species, in Britain.
The ash dieback fungus was first detected in Britain in March.
Ward said the department has surveyed over 92 percent of England and all of Scotland and Wales so far.
The government banned ash tree imports a week ago and has destroyed 100,000 trees.
Ash tree disease confirmed at 115 sites
