Sir, – Ann Catherine Nolan (April 10th) is concerned about the increased growth of ivy on Irish trees over the past five years. She need not worry. Ivy has been growing in Ireland for thousands of years and was here well before the arrival of humans. Ivy (real name Hedera helix) gets blamed for damaging trees, but the evidence for any ill-effects is very scarce.
Indeed, it can be argued that ivy may even protect trees in some circumstances. Further, ivy is an important source of food for many of our woodland birds and provides some of them with their main nesting sites. The major reason for killing ivy is cosmetic, as its removal helps to tidy up parkland trees, but it is not as damaging as many people believe. – Yours, etc,