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Basic Tree Survey and Inspection Course


Matthew Arnold
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Last year i did a basic tree survey and inspection course on one of the local estates near to where i'm based. I did it with my colleagues, one of them had done a course in tree dynamics when he was at college. It was rather amusing as all of my colleagues and i were just saying "fell it" to every single tre that came up on the slideshow. After we did the tree inspection course we went round with marker paint in September and marked up all the trees with defects. We did the same in a 26 acre piece of semi-natural woodland we manage and had approximately 50 complaints as most of the trees marked were so called "veterans". The oldest trees in the woodland are about 250 years old and are well away from any footpath. The trees to be felled are decent sized beech trees riddled with Ganoderma appalanum and the ultimate nastys, Giant Polypore and Honey fungus. We had an outbreak of bleeding canker on a 250sqm area of mature Oak and Sweet Chestnut last autumn. All of the trees were felled much to the upset of the users of the woods. Getting back to the subject has anyone been taught/assessed by Derek Brinsley?

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Nope. We had Nigel Fagg do our one. To be honest, the course left me more confused than before. I can find defects in most of the trees at my site. It's actually knowing what to do about them, apart from knocking out deadwood over tracks. For example, I'm 99% sure that one of our horse chestnuts has bleeding canker. What to do in that situation? So many different answers, everywhere. Some say condemn it, some say not to worry straight away and just keep an eye on it. If something was to go wrong though, and it was to fail, on someones head, then questions will be asked of our training. The basic tree survey course seems to be there to make you ask questions.

Thinking I'm gonna have to do the online Arb course so I can try and untangle my brain a bit on the subject.

 

You'll have to come over to my place at some point.

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Last year i did a basic tree survey and inspection course on one of the local estates near to where i'm based. I did it with my colleagues, one of them had done a course in tree dynamics when he was at college. It was rather amusing as all of my colleagues and i were just saying "fell it" to every single tre that came up on the slideshow. After we did the tree inspection course we went round with marker paint in September and marked up all the trees with defects. We did the same in a 26 acre piece of semi-natural woodland we manage and had approximately 50 complaints as most of the trees marked were so called "veterans". The oldest trees in the woodland are about 250 years old and are well away from any footpath. The trees to be felled are decent sized beech trees riddled with Ganoderma appalanum and the ultimate nastys, Giant Polypore and Honey fungus. We had an outbreak of bleeding canker on a 250sqm area of mature Oak and Sweet Chestnut last autumn. All of the trees were felled much to the upset of the users of the woods. Getting back to the subject has anyone been taught/assessed by Derek Brinsley?

 

Sounds a bit confusing there mate. Why would you mark 250 yr old veterans for felling when they pose no risk to the public?

 

The wide variety of fungi and species associated with veteran trees/ deadwood is called biodiversity and quite rightly should be managed/enhanced/preserved.

 

Or have I got the wrong end of the stick on your post?

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We mark em just to keep an eye on them rather than fell them. All of the veterans we are leaving to die naturally as they are cracking habitats for Noctule Bats and Greater Horseshoe Bats. Its only the straggly ones (50 year or less) that have dropped significant limbs in the past or have serious decay issues. Last winter we came up with a tree plan which stated that if a tree drops more that 4 branches during a storm and shows signs of decay and fungi shall be felled the following winter or dealt with appropriately. Some of them have to sadley be felled because even the deadwood habitats would pose a threat to members of the public due to the severe decay. We had an instance last year where we had marked a sextuplet group of Beech all with various fungi that cause white or brown rot. The ones with white rot were sonar checked before felling and the brown rot ones were just left as deadwood habitats for the Lesser and Middle Spotted Woodpeckers on the site. Hopefully this has cleared it up a bit. I apolgise if it sounded as if we felled any tree with even the slightest defect (excessive deadwood, slightly tight fork, etc).

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Some areas are managed (Laurel and Rhody clumps) and some area are being restored (Heathland) but in general the site is being managed as lightly as possible. if we need to fell dangerous trees as marked out by our own county tree officer then we will do so as effectivley as possible. Most of the trees we fell (depending on rot, location, etc) can be left for a few years but its only the extremely dodgy ones we fell.

at the most we fell 15 in the wood each winter. we needed to do a big blitz as there were several hung-up trees over hanging well used paths and a few sizable and hung up ones bordering the car park. they aren't felled just because we want to. its health and saftey orientated.

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Its a woodland but when it hasnt been properly managed for nearly 15 years we need to do some tree work. We got severel complaints from members of the public who were concerned about the state of some of the Beech trees. It is not an uncommon thing to get 5 complaints in a week about trees in a specific area. W

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