Haloing around and reducing veteran pollards

[David Humphries]

Brilliant pics David, and obviously very rewarding to be envolved in such long term management approaches I suspect those younger guys in your team don't realise just how privileged they are (and yes I am jealous) btw based on my notoriuosly poor observation skills :>P....were the trees spiked in the past?...seems a bit odd for such high value assets.

 

Not that I know of Sean, but maybe by contractors on a previous schedule.

 

I know that one I was on above looked like spike marks, but I'm not sure they were.

 

I think the guys fully knew what a privilege it continues to be working on these particular trees.

 

 

 

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[MattyF]

It just reminded me that I had a pic of an over shadowed ballerina!! Are there any worries of sun scold? I would work on those for free ...hint hint if any opertunity like that was to arise but I'm sure your gang is more than capable of carrying on your good work but what an opertunity..

An over crowded ballerina pic (sorry for showing again!)

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[David Humphries]

It just reminded me that I had a pic of an over shadowed ballerina!! Are there any worries of sun scold?

An over crowded ballerina pic (sorry for showing again!)

 

 

 

I've read & been told in the past that sudden exposure to too much sun light can scorch & kill thin smooth barked species like Beech Matt. But talking to guys at Burnham that have been releasing these pollards for nigh on 20 years or so, I get the impression that often they are fine, even when completely felling the encroaching secondary scrub that smothers them.

Oddly enough, its Oak that have had the greatest failure when exposed to high levels of light.

 

 

The big pollard next to the Ballerina that we worked on has been reduced by maybe 4/5 meters but is more or less on the north side of the little dancer. So probably won't effect direct light levels other than a few small lower overhanging branches that were removed.

 

The ballerina was exposed considerably on the left hand side of your shot about 3/4 years ago by the topping of some younger Beech trees. These are on the sunny south side, and it appears that the ballerina is thriving in spite of that exposure.

 

do you have any shots from further back Matt ?

 

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[MattyF]

Unfortunately my hard drive crashed on my last computer and this pic and one of a oak are the only photos of that visit I had down loaded on to photo bucket.

[David Humphries]

Unfortunately my hard drive crashed on my last computer and this pic and one of a oak are the only photos of that visit I had down loaded on to photo bucket.

 

Nae worries Matt.

 

If I ever hear of an opportunity to get a team of volunteers together, I'll be sure to let you know

 

 

 

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[MattyF]

You must get a lot of those requests for volunteer work ! Thanks david

[David Humphries]

You must get a lot of those requests for volunteer work !

 

with increasing regularity

 

 

Here's what the ballerina may have looked like at an early stage before she took on her current form.

 

 

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[MattyF]

That one has two legs and looks like its doing the limbo though! Cracking !

Are these trees well documented in photos, my gran lived practically on the common in the 50's I'm going to ask if she has a any photos! She said its changed a lot though... A lot of big trees are gone... My great grandfather left locations and description of a specific tree and we could not find it... Only a large mound of earth were its probably rotted back in to the ground.

Edited February 11, 2012 by MattyF

[David Humphries]

That one has two legs and looks like its doing the limbo though! Cracking !

Are these trees well documented in photos, my gran lived practically on the common in the 50's I'm going to ask if she has a any photos! She said its changed a lot though... A lot of big trees are gone... My great grandfather left locations and description of a specific tree and we could not find it... Only a large mound of earth were its probably rotted back in to the ground.

 

Your Grandfather would have seen many many more of these in his time than there are now. I think there were somewhere in the region of 3000 when the City of London took over the management of the Beeches in the late 1800's

 

there's somewhere in the region of 450 of them remaning.

 

2 of which fell due to the snow over the last couple of weeks.

like the one below.

 

I'd imagine Helen Read & the team have loads of shots of the pollards from various times, but not sure they are taken for every tree after each phase of restoration work has been carried out (though I'm not entirely sure about that)

 

 

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[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Its a magical place Burnham, if you time it right you can be almost alone in that wood and the atmosphere is thick.