{"id":21005,"date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=21005"},"modified":"2022-10-21T12:01:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T10:01:35","slug":"bunch-of-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/2022\/10\/20\/bunch-of-keys\/","title":{"rendered":"Bunch of keys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month, rodents collect the dangly wings of ash <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Ash keys may stay on trees all winter into spring <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

ASH IS A TREE THAT COMES INTO LEAF LATE, yet drops its foliage very early in the autumn, often when the leaves are still green or only just turning yellow. <\/p>\n\n

Its dangly fruits, which are flattened into wings and ripen to a coppery colour, are much in evidence by November. They hang in big bunches, known as keys, and these attract bullfinches that deftly extract the seeds inside. When they fall, wood mice are quick to gather them. <\/p>\n\n

The late Oliver Rackham, in his 2014 monograph on the ash published the year he died, commented that there are nearly as many ash trees in the British Isles as people. <\/p>\n\n

But by that point, ash dieback disease, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus <\/em>fraxineus, <\/em>had arrived. It has since weakened and killed vast numbers of these tall and extremely useful trees, once worshipped by Vikings, widely coppiced and harvested for everything from ploughs to wheel rims.<\/p>\n\n

BH <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Photos: ASH: JOHN BEBBINGTON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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