A wood near Wells is set to close to enable safety works to be carried out on trees affected by ash dieback disease.

Vigo Woods on the Old Bristol Road in between Wells and Rookham, is maintained by Bristol Water and is the latest location to be affected by the deadly disease running rampant in ash trees across the country and beyond.

Experts believe 95 per cent of UK ash trees will be lost to ash dieback this decade.

Natasha Clarke, environment manger at Bristol Water, said: "Just like we're facing our own pandemic with the new lockdown restrictions this month, so are ash trees with a deadly fungal disease called ash dieback.

"It's very saddening. To reduce the impact to the woodlands, we will be removing trees in the very late stages of the disease, where there is a risk of the tree falling and harming people, property and wildlife – particularly in our current strong autumn winds."

As part of this work, a four-week closure will be in place at Vigo Woods on the Old Bristol Road from this week to safely remove the trees.

The fungal disease causes trees to gradually weaken to the point that they inevitably fall. Signs of ash dieback include black blotches on leaves, wilting, and small lens shaped lesions on the bark of stems or branches.

To protect nature, Bristol Water has installed hundreds of dormice boxes and carried out wildlife surveys for the last three months in preparation.

While a tree replanting programme will kick in next year, the ground will need to recover naturally before new trees can be planted.

Around 80 trees will be removed from Vigo Woods. Many forests and outdoor spaces are falling victim to the disease – last month, the National Trust announced it would be losing 40,000 trees this year.