Scottish timber exports to Ireland paused for investigation after 'damaging' invasive beetle found

Timber exports from Scotland to Ireland have been paused after an invasive beetle that poses at threat to conifers was discovered at a port.

Precautionary forestry measures are in place after three Ips cembrae beetles, more commonly known as the large larch bark beetle, were found at a port in Cork where logs from west Scotland were moving through.

Log exports from Scotland to Ireland have been paused after an invasive beetle was found | PA

Ips cembrae is a large bark beetle that bores into larch trees and can have a damaging effect on the quality and volumes of timber.  In very rare cases, it can be found on other species.  It can also land on other timber without establishing a breeding colony and simply use the timber to hitch a lift.

Wood, wood products, bark and wood packaging material are considered as the main pathways for spreading this pest, which is native to Europe. It is thought the beetles found could have hitchhiked on timber from Scotland, although this has not yet been confirmed, officials said.

Until further investigations have been carried out, a pause is now in place preventing all conifer timber with bark on being transported to Ireland from Scotland’s west coast Pest Free Area, which stretches from the Mull of Kintyre, Mull, through to Fort William and over to the Isle of Skye.    

James Nott, head of tree health at Scottish Forestry, said: “Scottish Forestry’s tree health team are in regular contact with their counterparts in Ireland over this finding.

“We have both agreed that a precautionary pause in the movement of timber is the right course of action whilst investigations progress. We need to carry out further tracing and surveillance then carefully consider next steps and take a judgement based on the evidence.”     

Irish authorities have agreed to allow timber already in transit on boats to continue their passage.  As all Scottish log imports are inspected at Irish ports, any in transit will be subject to an inspection at the port prior to being cleared.  

Any boats that have not left Scotland will not be allowed to dock in Ireland, officials said.

Scottish Forestry said in 2022, a number of large larch bark beetles were found in traps in Scotland’s Pest Free Area.  No breeding populations were found in follow-up surveys, but following the findings, and as a precaution, no larch timber is moved to the island of Ireland, which has pest-free status for this type of beetle.

Scotland is home to vast areas of conifer plantations used for the timber trade, including the non-native Sitka spruce.

The most recent figures from the Forestry Commission (FC) are from 2018, at which point there were 507,000 hectares of Sitka spruce plantations north of the border, both under private ownership and land owned by the FC. Last month, a different type of invasive beetle, the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus), was found on Sitka spruce in the UK for the first time.

The FC asked landowners to remove where the beetle was discovered on the conifer species in West Sussex.

There have been previous findings of the beetle in the UK on other trees, but this was the first time it had been discovered on Sitka, the most widely planted conifer across the UK. If uncontrolled, the beetle has the potential to cause significant damage to Britain’s spruce-based forestry and timber industries.