Lake District forests hit by ash dieback disease

Sites affected by Hymenoscyphus fraxineus fungus include areas of woodland near Ambleside and Keswick, with disease already widespread across Europe

Trees at four different sites in the Lake District have been found infected with ash dieback disease, according to the Forestry Commission. The sites include areas of woodland near Ambleside and Keswick.

It is not known how the trees became infected with the Hymenoscyphus fraxineus fungus (which was originally called Chalara fraxinea). Charlton Clark, a spokesman for the Forestry Commission, said: "The disease can be spread either by spores of the fungus being carried by the wind or by movement of infected ash plants, whose spores can then be blown to neighbouring trees. It could have arrived in the Lake District by either or both these means."