The disease known as ‘sudden oak death’ has arrived at Britain from America, where it has eradicated the oak population.

The disease was first discovered in shrubs in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset five years ago after it was introduced in Britain by an infected plant from the United States.

In Britain the disease in officially known as phytophthora ramorum, the disease causes seeping or bleeding areas on the trunk of the trees, followed by fading foliage, attack by beetles on the weakened timber and arrival of fungal growth on the bark. 

Several thousands of trees are being cut at National Trust-owned forests in the southwest of England in an attempt to prevent the disease which threatens to destroy up to 100 species of hardwoods and conifers.

The disease has capacity to spread so easily between other species.

Nearly 60,000 larch trees are being cut in two forests in Somerset in an attempt to stop spreading of the airborne fungus, which has already been found in more than 2000 hectares of land in the region.

More trees are expected to cut down in the coming years because the warmer, wetter conditions are expected with climate change that encourages the spread of the disease.