A National Trust car park has been closed, along with a public footpath, to enable ash dieback forestry works to take place.

As of today (December 14) the King's Wood car park at Winscombe Hill will be closed while the forestry works take place.

Somerset County Council has also agreed with the National Trust for a temporary closure of the West Mendip Way through King's Wood.

A spokesperson for the trust said: "Over the past few months, we've been assessing and monitoring the health of ash trees on our land.

"As a result of these surveys, we have identified more than 2,500 trees across the Mendip Hills including at King's Wood, Shute Shelve, Tor Hills Woods and Cheddar Gorge, that pose a risk to public safety and unfortunately urgently need felling."

Chalara dieback of ash, or ash dieback, is a disease of ash trees caused by a fungus called Hymenoscyphus fraxineus.

Once a tree is infected, in most of the cases the tree's health will decline and often succumb to secondary fungal infection.

As ash trees succumb to the disease and slowly die, they can drop limbs and branches, collapse or fall.