11th November 2012. A mid-morning walk through Harptree Combe with my wife and Buster, the Jack Russell.
When the sun shone through into the combe the colours were fantastic, and there was no-one else around.
In the combe is the scheduled site of Richmont Castle dating back to the early 12th century although not much now remains, the image below is taken on one of the paths leading up to the castle site.
Given the much publicised ‘Ash die back fungus’ now about to spread throughout the countryside, particularly affected will be the lime rich soils, Cotswolds, Mendips, etc. where there is a high percentage of ash growth. I wonder what the landscape will become if some forward planning to start planting alternative indigenous species is not put into action immediately, there will be obvious cost implications and the Government will have to front up.
It seem’s to be that someone has taken some shortcuts to make a’ fast buck’ and the countryside will suffer as a result. In Australia and New Zealand there are extreme restrictions regarding plant imports, hindsight perhaps, but what more ‘benefits’ will an open European market bring.
