Will Hinchliffe

4 photos from today. Big yew in Temple near Frome and oak on the lane to Temple. Kieran in an oak.

Cheers Andrew, I was writing my last post at the same time as you posted your last post. Thanks for the advice we do not have an air spade so it will have to be a careful dig at the collar. Its not really my decision what to do. I need to inform my boss so he can decide weather we continue with the work we started today or do something else . Im really keen to investigate the roots as I have never done it.

There is some die back in the crown but no more than you would expect on an oak of its age (200+). It has also lost about a fifth of its crown due to branch failure in the past. There are also some cavities visible between the buttresses. The tree is situated on the top of a steep 4m bank and is part of a hedgerow that borders farmland and a sunken road. The road is single track and very quiet. ( We had about 5 vehicles 4 pedestrians and 4 horses come through all day). The next Oak tree along has died back and is sparse I will have a better look around the base for fungal fruiting bodies.. I think the next step should be to investigate the nature and extent of any root decay. I have never investigated root decay before but I need to learn so I will have a careful dig around tomorrow and take some photos of the tree if I get time.

I just found what I think are dried up old Collybia fusipes on the toes of a large roadside Oak that we are due to deadwood and to take some weight out of a couple of branches. Supposed to be done tomorrow but we did about half this afternoon because we had completed our other work I found the fungi when I came out of the tree. I have only seen Collybia on one other Oak before and it failed a month later the roots failed/ snapped. Any one got any nice up to date info on Collybia or oppinions on it. Cheers Will

Thanks for posting I find the thermal images fascinating. Could the colder line down the stem indicate a crack ? Or would that look different ?

Sexy!

2 in the basket is much quicker plus its good to have someone to hold on to your ankles when you have so stand on the top of the basket.

It would be nice if the safety kit for the kongs could be bought separately. We use kongs allot at work but as we all ready have two pairs I cant see us forking out for a third. The upside down harness looks cool and the oval caribeners.

Inocybe sp ????????? I reckons but don't know Inocybe require microscopic examination to positively ID to a species level Inocybe are michorhizal

During the second world war there were cars made with wood gassification boilers bolted on the front.

We use a helium balloon on a piece of string. Fly it up till its level with the top then read of the measurements from the tags tied on the string. Sorry we don't really but I reckon it would be fun.

Great shots is that spores covering the ivy on the Inonotus dryadeus

They don't really look dwarfed do they?

Could it be that the shoots at the tips were not able draw up as much water and there cells are not filling out giving them a more lobed and dwarfed appearance. Just an idea I am not saying that is what is going on.

Great photos by the way. Footlocking on a single line with a kleimheist sounds like something to have a go at. Did you sit on the hitch or just power on up?

Terrible news. One of my friends from schoool recently cut his arm and chest badly when he was topping out an ash. The saw was thrown back when the top went as soon as he touched the back cut. He could so easily have cut his neck if his work positioning had been differnt. Expect the unexpected and be very carefull friends. My condolences to his fanily, freinds and workmates.

This is something that I am particularly interested in. Funnily enough it also came up on wendnesday on my tech cert course in relation to reiterations. Apparently a reasearch group in the tropics has proved that reiterations can be geneticly distinct. When I was at University I did an experement where I tried to disprove the genetic mosaic Hypothysis. I measured various dimensions of hazel nuts and there cupules, recording which branch they came from and which tree. I measured thousands of hazelnuts in the Burren in Ireland. Then I ran a nested analysis of variance on the data set. We found that you could accept that there was variety within trees and between trees. But that somatic variation was less than variation caused by sexuall recombination. Hazel nuts where chosen because the nut is not influenced by the pollen that fertilizes the ovule (it is derived from the ovum) and because of its importance to the plant its form is not effected by environmental factors. Obviously there are many flaws to this experiment when it comes to addressing the Genetic mosaic Hypothesis but I found it Fascinating. There was a great picture in an old (1980s) edition of nature that had a plantation of Eucalyptus that had been defoliated by insect damage. All that remained was one branch on one tree completly un touched!!! A paper that I found very interesting was one written by Losey In the 60's 70's called The Genetic Mosaic Hypothesis. There are of course other stagies that plants have evolved to allow themselves to keep one step ahead of pathogens with incredibly fast life cycles. Now this is coming from the back of my memory (and is not likley to be 100% accurate) but I think there is a section on it in the Agrios plant pathology book (that I sold when I was Skint:sad:). The book talks about it in relation to the evolotion of powdery mildew on barley. Protiens that are pressent in the cell membrane recognise the powdery mildew spores and then trigger a systemic response from the plant and also programed cell death in the cells imediatly surronding the inoculation site. The powdery mildew evolves to evade these protiens. The genes that code for these protiens have high quantities of "junk" DNA except that it is not junk. The repetitive nature of the junk DNA found in genes that are responsible for resistance means that when sexual recombination occurs these genes are more likely to mutate and throw up protiens that result in resistance Probably a bit rambling to understand but I tried:confused1:

Yep I reckon I didnt put that back on doh.

So I went to port my old O2O but it needed some attention first. Its just been taken apart by a numpty who ripped the wires out of the top handle but I got it all back together and finally took home some fuel so I could tune it. Let it warm up first but when I try and tune it the revs chase up and down. Does this mean I have fitted the carboretor badly. When I did it I didnt have any instructions but it all seemed so obvious. Any advice? Also chain on or off. I went for chain off.

My boss and one of my workmates both have the Arblite trousers (Black with a yellow tab on the pocket) and they seem really nice. I think they were under a hundred quid from sevsafe. I have Husquevarnas version of the highflex but dont really rate them.

We have a Beech stump with meripilus to grind out. It came down on tuesday. If you want any data just tell me what you want. I would be interested to excavate some roots any way.

Th knut is similar to the distel but I think its better. I go for a VT 3wraps 3braids but I think I have it a bit to long.

Its probably bad info but I was told that you should stick with the same two stroke oil throughout the life of the engine. Was I just told this so I didnt put cheep stuff in?

Makes me want another hitch climber and a swivel. I like the look of the splice on your rope mark.