Wych Elm

I took another of my lunchtime walks to Derby Arboretum today. I have decided it is time to feature some of the important trees in the park in my blips. This one is a Wych Elm planted in 1840.

At the time of planting it wouldn't have been a hugely significant tree, but as a consequence of Dutch Elm Disease which killed most of England's elms in the 1970s, it is now a rare specimen.

It is a shame to think that a similar fate now awaits most of the nation's ash trees.