More than half-a-million trees are believed to have been brought down during the storms which recently affected Cumbria - leaving forestry workers to battle on with the mammoth clean-up effort.

In South Lakeland, experts estimate that around five per cent of the total tree cover has been destroyed by the storms.

Public access has been restricted to swathes of forest, including Grizedale and Whinlatter parks, because of fears that trees weakened in the storms could fall on walkers or cyclists.

John Bruce, Forestry Commission operations manager in the Lake District, said about 200 hectares of trees had fallen across the whole of Cumbria approximately the size of 400 football pitches.

"The biggest issue for us, in terms of safety, is the sporadic gusts of wind. We have got trees that could fall over at any time. That is our biggest concern at the moment," he said.

"I would say that around 500,000 trees across Cumbria came down, including about 250,000 in the South Lakeland area that is a good four to five per cent of all trees but that is not catastrophic."

It will take several years and hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear up the damage and salvage the fallen timber. But, according to Mr Bruce, South Lakeland had not been as badly affected as woodlands in western Cumbria.

"The effect of the storm was more positive than negative. It was a natural process and the dead wood, which has fallen, is going to be very valuable for the ecology of the woodland and the small animals that live there," he said.

"In terms of economic impact it is going to cost us, but we can salvage timber from trees which have blown down."

Mr Bruce said that the commission's principal aim was to make safe the many footpaths and cycle ways that traversed the park to minimise damage to tourism.

"We don't want people to visit areas that are dangerous but we want to open the forest up as soon as we can," he said.

Meanwhile, tree surgeons have been working continuously to cut down fallen and damaged trees, which could pose a danger.

Since the storm struck, Grasmerebased tree surgeon David Prickett has been busy clearing fallen and weakened trees. He expects to be busy for at least the next six weeks with the clear up effort and asked customers to only call him in an emergency.

Mr Prickett said: "I have seen a lot of beautiful trees go and everybody has a good tale to tell. Seventy-five per cent of the (fallen) trees have been conifers, mainly because of their foliage. When the wind blows it is like a big sail. After four inches of rain fell in 24 hours, many of the roots became saturated and the weight pulled the trees over." People should check the Forestry Commission's website (www.forestry.gsi.gov.uk - link below) to find which paths and tracks are open before venturing into affected areas.