ScottF

If you're over the 5 cube volume limit you'll undoubtedly need one. Planning permission would provide exemption (as long s the LA didn't decide to slap TPO on them having seen the application). I did job for someone recently who'd bought a house and garden which it turned out had had load of trees on it felled just prior to him buying it. He was served with a restock notice without any warning (despite the FC claiming that they had tried to contact him). The FC can now serve a restock notice without having to prosecute, and being the FC they're autocratic, arrogant and never wrong, so beware. Applying for a licence is no biggie, but you will generally need to restock (although not necessarily in the same spot). If you're not going take the licence route, I'd suggest that either the client goes in for planning with a good arb survey describing the value or otherwise of the trees, or you fell in sub-5 metre parcels over however long you need. s

Wow! Thanks for that, guys. I can see that bitter, cynical wit will take me far on this site.. Cheers!! Scott

Squatter's rights? Absolute nonsense. This guy's so full of sh*t he makes my ass jealous. Honestly. Unfortunately, I'd say if he's so far gone he can't see that's he's committed aggravated trespass and criminal damage and thinks he's done nothing wrong, you're unlikely to get through to him. Just put him on the list...somewhere near the top.

As they say in Ireland: "sure it'd be a grand country if you could just put a roof on it" wet, you could say

Great Marcus! Cheers for the invite. Drop me mail to arrange where and when and I'm there. Of course I'll report what we got through with the utmost impartiality. best Scott

Having looked at the photographs vs the thermal images, do the IR pictures tell us anything our eyes can't? Were any of the trees which were identified as being of high risk felled and the "dysfunctional" areas dissected and inspected?

Well, thanks for the further information, Marcus. I'm sure that when your findings are published I, and I'm certain other readers, will be interested to look at them. Do you know which journals are going to publish them? Please feel free to let us all know when the papers are available. best Scott

Well, Marcus, to be honest I'm none the wiser about how your system is meant to work after having read your explanation. Could you please clarify how your device and/or software detects internal decay in trees because that's clearly how it's being marketed. Is there any peer-reviewed research which shows a statistically significant relationship between the findings of IR and actual mechanical failure in trees? Is it in any way legally defensible? I'm really not having a go- I just want to understand how this system is meant to work. cheers

cracking photos made me very BC-sick

these children are clearly on drugs

Mr Ed will know...

I reckon the top one's a gammy old Polyporus squamosus and the second one's either a slightly moth-eaten Ganoderma lucidum or a Maris piper

How big are they? Maybe Kuehneromyces mutabilis if the wood underneath is dead?

cheers for the update, Tony

At the start of the video the narrator mentions the "silent procession" of people. Does she suffer from selective bagpipe deafness? I grew up in Canada where we regularly trip over our guns, such is their profusion. Not many people shoot other people there. Funny that.

I feel a very "anoracky" picture thread coming on... excellent

Much clearer. As I said, I think as a means of investigating vascular disorder (the least understood set of disorders, possibly), it's probably about the best thing I've seen. As for correlating with decay, like you say, it's not so clear. Dead conductive tissue doesn't automatically equal compromised static material below. And vascular disorders can "rewire" themselves in many cases, too. It would be really interesting to take a series of IR shots of a representative sample of genera over time to see what goes on as the tree matures/declines.

It's a shame that your neighbour doesn't share your neighbourly disposition. Perhaps he has some trees in his garden you could cheerfully fell next saturday. Perhaps onto his car. The juglans might be OK, but I guess it depends on how wet for how long. As for tree selection in a bit of a wet spot why not use trees that thrive on a bit of wet? What about a nice multi-stem river birch (Betula nigra) or Taiwan alder (Alnus formosana)? Cracking trees but potentially expensive in size. Good thing you won't be paying for them, eh?

Thanks, MisterTree. I've had a scan at some of the articles written about it now (many being written by Dr Giorgio Catena from 1989 to present, the guys who seems to have pioneered it) and they all seem to suggest that the data you'd get from IR relate to, effectively, vascular conductivity (as MonkeyD spotted earlier in this thread). What concerns me is that this device seems to be (correct me if I'm wrong or have got the wrong end of the stick) marketed as an internal decay detection device. I would welcome any tools that would help to to determine the extent and location of vascular disfunction in a tree (think bleeding canker or as a tool to identify and limit the spread of DED), but disfunction in the thin layer of conductive tissue of tree doesn't mean that the underlying static tissue is compromised- there just isn't always a direct relationship. If I've got this wrong anyone, feel free to explain it to me. Cheers

I think you're letting this arse off very lightly. There's the issue of aggravated tresspass, criminal damage, possible breach of felling licence etc etc. Send him a bill for what you'd charge a minted client to tidy it up, then a bill for planting 2 extra-heavy standard ornamentals. Walnuts are nice. I'd charge at least £300 to do it. Don't let him off too easy, man!!

Is there any evidence these things work? I've looked at a number of websites and I'm not convinced by anything I've seen whatsoever. Is the principle that non-conductive tissue is in some way necessarily unsound? Don't get it at all.

I like trees but they block the Sky signal getting onto my hideous dish nailed to the side of my house which in turn stops Rupert Murdoch's beams of stupidity from turning my brains into a foul-smelling pot of slurry. And that, my friends, is why I like trees...

It comes with a pair of fire engine red swimming briefs and a chest toupee

As if I didn't have enough things to spend my money on, VW are launching a new pickup next year. Damn.

The picture helps. Looks like one of the Hypoxylon spp. to me. Not sure about the prognosis, but I'm sure I remember hearing about a disease syndrome which one or more Hypoxylon spp. was involved and the prognosis was poor. Sorry I can't remember more at this stage.