First, it was Dutch Elm Disease, then our beloved beech tree in Hall Park rotted, and now we see trees affected by “Sooty Bark Disease”.
In the vernacular, we can’t catch a break!
Sooty Bark Disease kills sycamores and related trees. The bark peels away, leaving a dirty, black residue, like a layer of burnt wood. (See the photo of a stump covered with ‘soot’.)
Rushden’s Jubilee Park has been hit hard with the loss of trees in the summer of its jubilee.
One hundred years ago, the Park was donated to the Town, and young sycamore trees were planted around its boundary. A number of those trees have now died from the new disease. They had to be cut down and removed.
Dead trees are a safety hazard. The risk with the beech tree was that one of the branches (trunks) could fall and kill someone. With the new disease, the risk is different. The spores of the Sooty Bark fungus are dangerous if breathed in.
Dutch Elm Disease killed most of England’s elm trees, leaving gaps in the woodland across the Nation. We cannot tell how far Sooty Bark Disease will spread, but it doesn’t look good.
