Cowdray to fell ‘significant number’ of infested trees

Cowdray foresters will, over the next year, begin significant tree felling after the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle was found on the estate.

The tiny beetle, Ips Typographus, is found in stressed or dying spruce trees and is considered a significant pest. Since the beetle took hold in Norway over a decade ago, it has been able to wipe out 100 million cubic metres of spruce.

It has been chomping its way through the UK and has already been discovered in trees in Woolbeding and Petworth.

The Cowdray Estate is under a government watch notice, and foresters will start clearing infected spruce trees in Verdley, Fernhurst and on the north face of the Downs.

If the beetle infestation is allowed to spread further across the country, it could have a devastating effect on the forestry sector. Spruce makes up around 50% of commercial planting in the UK and supports thousands of jobs.

Director of Forest Services for the Forestry Commission, Dr Ann Brown, said: “The success of our eradication and monitoring programme shows that we are managing to keep this pest from establishing in England, but this takes a huge amount of effort and the continued support of the woodland and forestry sector.”

One third of Cowdray Estate is covered in forest, and it produces around 15,000 tonnes of timber each year.  CEO, Jonathan Russell, told the Midhurst Town Annual General Meeting last week that it had been a “tough” few years, as disease in the woods has been rife. He noted that ash dieback “has been a huge problem.”

He told the meeting that he did not yet know what trees the Estate team would plant as replacements, but “it won’t be spruce”.