Summer limb/branch drop

[felixthelogchopper]

Ash limb from tree in area where Inonotus is rife.

[David Humphries]

Not sure if this is the same thing but this happened in York yesterday.

 

 

 

Narrow escape for York shoppers as huge branch falls from tree (From York Press)

 

 

Sounds like very close call.

 

 

I do wonder whether rational thinking goes into placement of seating under trees.

 

Sure, the shade & rain shelter is a welcome benefit, but common sense is not one of the great British publics strongest attributes.

 

I doubt the thought of risk really ever crosses the minds of the masses when choosing to sit under a few tonnes of dead weight.

 

 

 

.

[David Humphries]

Don't know the area, but I'm presuming its this chestnut.

 

Anyone?

 

[Spruce Pirate]

Sounds like very close call.

 

 

I do wonder whether rational thinking goes into placement of seating under trees.

 

Sure, the shade & rain shelter is a welcome benefit, but common sense is not one of the great British publics strongest attributes.

 

I doubt the thought of risk really ever crosses the minds of the masses when choosing to sit under a few tonnes of dead weight.

.

 

I doubt highly if many members of the public consider the safety aspects of sitting under at tree.

 

For one, I work with trees, including clearing up failures and working with safety reports, yet I very rarely consider anything but the shade on a hot day when I sit underneath one. I might give a tree a cursory glance, but not much more than that.

[One Buck]

Don't know the area, but I'm presuming its this chestnut.

 

Anyone?

 

[ATTACH]130428[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]130430[/ATTACH]

 

 

Yes, was quoted as a horse chestnut in a previous report.

[One Buck]

Yes, was quoted as a horse chestnut in a previous report.

 

(and yes, that is the one).

[Lee Winger]

Their are somthings in this life we will never fully understand summer branch drop being one of them

[treeseer]

I doubt the thought of risk really ever crosses the minds of the masses when choosing to sit under a few tonnes of dead weight.

 

 

 

.

Lots of green leaves in that pic--what was dead about that weight?

 

If this incident does not make aerial assessments more routine, what will?

[David Humphries]

Lots of green leaves in that pic--what was dead about that weight?

 

If this incident does not make aerial assessments more routine, what will?

 

The dead bit was a loose reference to the very real potential of a 'ceased to be' toddler they nearly had to claim from under the failed limb.

 

 

 

 

.

[Matthew Arnold]

My colleagues and i have been discussing the recent limb drops on our sites and have come up with a theory as to why we are seeing more this summer than we had last the past two summers.

 

Our theory is because our spring was later than usual the trees are growing at stunted rate and producing lots of leaves and lots of fruit/mast/etc to make up for last years very poor summer. But because they have grown so quickly, the longer and weaker limbs can't hold the sudden weight gain where in the past the growth has been steady so they could adapt the fibres to hold the weight. We have also noticed that most of the limb drops occur during or just after rain where the weight of the leaves effectively treble in weight. We have also checked for any rot in the breaks and found nothing in our failures.

 

Could we be onto something?

 

We had a failure last night/early hours caused by the rain on a perfectly healthy hyper extended limb. I noticed two days ago it was sat in a lower branch of the same limb and told my colleagues about it. It hadn't failed but it was contorted/twisted as there was a two inch branch hooked into a fork, keeping it up. Please note, the lack of rot and and the fibres at the failure point.