gibbon

Thats a nice thing to say. All I can take credit for is organising the job and cutting pieces off. My ground crew take over as soon as its cut. If they say they can handle a piece I trust them 100%. If they mess up somethings going to go seriously wrong. All the crane footage I got before the batery went was my usual driver so no issues there. The 1st section I cut with the agency driver was a bit twitchy as he was just freezing up. I'm still a bit sour that they sent such an inexperienced guy out to that site. We've got him in again next week so hopefully he'll chill a bit before then.

Just less stress. With arranging things last minute, not being on the tools for months and having an inexperienced crane operator show up put me in a bad mind set. I would have liked an extra day, then one of my guys would have been up there as I'm hoping to step back from the contracting.

Thanks for the positive comments. To try to answer the questions- It was just one tree. I had inspected the tree earlier in the year. Sparse crown, heterobasidion at the base, pine shoot moth and red band needle blight too. Wasn't dangerous but certainly declining. The whole job was a nightmare. My mates yard is just up the road, he was taking the chip and moving the timber. His father inlaw dropped dead and the weekend so he couldn't help. The job was underpriced from the start and the highways agency limited us to not put any traffic control up till 9.30 and be off the road for 3 as its a primary route. We only had 2 days. Didn't have the room to crane down the brash into a single carriageway. 2nd day the crane turned up with an agency driver who just lost it. Couldn't set the crane up as planned. Had to call my mate out who rigged up the crane on shortest possible rigg for that crane at 5m. This meant we had to rig down the stems another 4m so he could pick them Didn't get the boom up till 1.15 but managed to get the whole thing dusted and road open again by 2.50, not sure how though. All in all very stressfull. There was a few pieces of brash getting stuck because I was rushing so much. I must admit I felt a bit rusty at the start which made me nervous, but alls well that ends well.

Was dreading this job as I have hardly climbed in 3 months and I knew I'd undersetimated it. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfsWAxkrbP4]YouTube - pine hell[/ame]

I am having a log burner fitted soon but we're limited to a 5KW because of trouble venting it. Any suggestions on the best 5kw stove for under £800?

Yeah, just read through section 8. I'll pm you if you don't mind.

So on a 1970's area order the LA could potentially say, "oops", lose some face but save the tree?

Is it possible for an LA to withdraw its consent to fell a TPO'd tree soon after consent has been given?

Saw that too, sad, he really charged. Dengue fever is nasty. I had it in Colombia a long time ago it was horrible

This is the reason we have been blowing chips back under estate trees during pruning works and sreading them in a mosiac.

Well its 4m from a house with a lean. Some decay but tons of new healthy roots too. Going to stay I think but with a light prune This ones got meripilus and HF in a play area. Staying too

Biggest (by girth) and one of the oldest gunni in the country. Meripilus un-covered

Did you use a turf cutter to remove the grass? I found it took me ages to clear off grass without one on a similar job.

It was Dracules or Boilers, not quite sure which was which as there was only one other guy out. As the tide dropped I ended up at Dracules for sure as it was a very fast shallow wave on the rock shelf, left of the graffiti hut. I liked La source when it was a few feet over head and there was a strong off shore. Didn't quite seem to barrel properly without the wind, but it wasn't that big a swell for Morocco.

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Some shots of decay caused by Inonotus dryadeus. Decay primarily on undersides of roots, but whole roots can be effected in latter stages of decay. Orange dots show the extent of decay

We could do with an extra guy for an average of 3 days a week. Looking for someone with at least 3 years climbing experience undertaking crown reductions and dismantaling. Varied work, commercial and domestic no utility. Can pay paye or self employed, self employed must have upto date loler records for climbing kit. Must be reliable and have own transport. Call Mat on; 07968741251

Impressive stuff, especially those pieces where the brash was all one sided. Did you tie to the hook to set the slings?

Nicely done. Tricky to rig that one?

I very much doubt that it would. Its a lot harder to justify keeping a tree with any kind of root decay fungi than it is too justify retention.

I don't think you've been un-proffesional and did not mean to imply that. Personally I would prefer to be more reserved with my opinion if I had not seen the tree and the site in the flesh. A single photograph does not always tell us the whole story. Opinions will differ and it doesn't mean that one person is wrong or another is wrong If it was my client in a situation like this I would chat about what they wanted. If they want to fell the tree then it would be easy enough to justify that decision based on what we have already seen and I'd give them a price to fell it. If they would like to keep it or want a little more information to make their minds up, I would do a bit more investigating and charge accordingly. I don't think your wrong in your approach here just different. I do think that you sometimes seem to be quick to make a diffinative statement about a tree in situations where I'd be keen to explore a little more.

I've seen meripilus on Turkey and Lucombe Oaks several times, not not on a robur. Never felled one because of it or had to clear a fallen one. We have lightly reduced a 35m Lucombe though which is on a very busy junction. That was 4 years ago and the crowns still in good nick I also don't believe its possible to give advice based on your photo, without seeing the tree and possibly checking out some roots it would be guess work. I would be interested to hear of any cases of Oaks failing because of the fungi.

125 plenty fast enough for a 2 man team, keep it sharp. The fuel isn't that bad and you will get it places a 150 won't look at. We have both

Most likely, I cancelled the place but I would be very disappionted to miss it. If I'm better Monday I'll try to beg it back. I'd look pretty awfull though. You going?

If you go from a capstan to a bollard you be instantly blown away by the smooth rigging. Not used Regs but twin bollards could be usefull, especially on a speed line. If you need to winch then the GRCS is king hands down