BBC R4: The Tree Scientists

[Pawpawsaurus]

This programme's not specifically butterfly-related, but I expect many inhabitants of this forum will find it interesting nonetheless. Scheduled for Wednesday 12/12/12 at 11am, the synopsis (including a comma splice) is as follows:

"With 80 million Ash trees in the country under threat, can anything be done to save them from the devastating effects of Ash dieback? Dr. Adam Hart looks at what scientists know about the fungus that causes Ash dieback, he travels to Poland - where the fungus was first isolated and identified and speaks to leading scientists not only there but in the UK and Denmark to determine if Ash trees will suffer the same fate as they have across the continent."

It'll be available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p7g10 soon after transmission.

Paul

[selbypaul]

Really interesting listen this, thanks for the tip off Paul.

It makes me so depressed to think that, in 10-15 years time we'll have virtually no Ash Tree's left in most of the country. The wildlife impact will be seismic.

[Pawpawsaurus]

Really interesting listen this, thanks for the tip off Paul.

Glad to be of service. I sincerely hope we're not the only ones to have listened to it.

On a similar subject, last week's Costing The Earth discussed not just Chalara fraxinea but other diseases which may be arriving from various parts of the world in the not too distant future, as well as Dutch Elm Disease (against which resistant strains of Elm took around 40 years to develop). It was yet another interesting programme, and not all doom and gloom. As usual, it's available online. Anyone with half an hour to spare may like to visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p9dcp

Paul