Highland Forestry

Slacking off up here.. contract work is dieing a death and almost no private work at all.. Hope its the time of year...having said that it was the same this time last year. Looking for more contracts now..

Surely if the wood is that old, and a remnant of the old Caledonian forest, it will deffinatley be a SSSI and probably a SPA to boot - no way will they get a felling license to clear fell it.. as already mentioned, probably the woodland trust selectivley felling a few oaks for the right reasons. Where does one go to buy ceramic spikes anyway?? There was me thinking that most wooden dash boards in cars were made from Walnut?!?

Just looked at the photos again.... I can see it now, before you said about the crown reduction it looked ot me like they had topped out the middle of the crown and left the long outer stems.. I would have done exactly the same to be honest, a good hard crown reduction BUT I do think they should have done the whole lot rather than just the one tree and maybe not as much as 90%!! Something like a 60% reduction would have left it a better shape... Why didn't they do the neighbourng trees as well???

Problem with that John, IMO is thatopening up the middle of the crown like that has created more leverage on the outer stems. If I had been asked to cot that tree to that spec I would have refused to leave it looking like that, I would have tried to persuade them to top it level right across rather than leaving it like that, re-growth or not it won't eliminate the original problem.

What does cause that kind of split?? I cam acriss something very similar today on scots pine, although much much smaller than pictured with this willow. I was carring out remedial works on roadside pibes today, and nearly every one of them have branches with that kind of split in them... would it be something do to with high winds?? the wind could cause the branch to fracture through the middle, and then the next seasons growth open it up? got me puzzled..

Jumped the gun a sec there.... is that an actual photo of the work that's been carried out?? It looks like a Mr. Hancock Photoshop Session on closer inspection. Rethinking tactics.... I would have done a crown reduction and monotored the tree over the next few years... I personally dont think the tree poses much of a risk at all from looking at the first photos, apart from hindering the local post box

That is a f****ng disgrace!! I would have either left it, or asked my customer if they wanted to keep it or not, and if they wanted to keep it I would have carried out a crown reduction, if they werent fussed I would have felled it for the £££'s

I'd deffinatley agree with that - I love my shooting, it's what I live for but I've not picked up any of my guns for 5 months now! And theres a phenoenal ammount of members on here that never post so 1 in 50 wont be far off. Stress and depression in particular are actually an illness. I was treated for depression about two years ago for around 9 months following a pretty rough break up with my ex and some very hard times, and the first step to getting back on the right road is admitting to yourself that you are actually ill, and not being stupid or just feeling down, you are seriousley ill and like any illness you need help to be cured. Once you get that into your head you start laying down the small bricks that build your life up again. It takes a long time and it's hard and the depression never really dissapears from your life but you learn to cope and adapt to overcome it. To anyone reading this feeling low, depressed, upset, stressed out, anxious, tired, grumpy - remember you're not alone and that alot of us, especially those who are self employed, we're all putting ourselves under too much pressure on a daily basis and we all make ourselves a hard life. Stevie told me a few weeks ago that going to get help is a bit like taking a car for an MOT - if you have a problem wth your car, you can try and fix it yourself but what if it's serious? You take it to a mechanic and you pay him to fix it for you, then you carry on as usual... going to see a hypno or someone similar need be no different.

They can a total pain in the arse on the road eh?? Sure you're lovley misses could knock it into a nice stew or pot roast?

Saw this on TV tonight....I thought it was pretty good! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn-STQyFHbs]YouTube - drench pheasant rodeo ad official[/ame]

Happy Birthday Stew!! Have a good one

That is THE most accurate description of my life I have ever seen, and true for nigh on two years now.

A crane, a mog, a mewp, a chipper, plenty of bods... That job must have cost a small fortune!!

ahhhhh theres the signange

Yep - that is quite a big take down! I wouldnt be able to get away with so few cones/road signs etc.

Dave - drop me an email, [email protected] and i'll send you through some examples of the paperwork I use which you can easily edit with your own details, company name etc.

Now that is one hairy bush!

Here's mine.. between my place and the wood over the valley, there's the river spey and the srathspey steam railway.

Yep, it's amazing what you find in trees.. We cut down a large beech which was knackered last year and I managed to find a glass bottle right in the middle of it when taking the stump down, and just last week I was asked to cut down some dead Alder stems which were starting to become unsafe and found an old steel watering can at the botom of one of them! I say I found them..... after my saw had found them unfortunatley.

Those damned beavers!!! I'll have to call in Sylvestris Stew - he's good with beavers.

I keep getting told that english tree surgeons are well sought after in spain.... but no sign of it in reality. Last time I was over I was watching guys climbing up all the palm trees to take off the old growth ready for the winter.. I tired to talk to one of them about it and about contracting in, but alas my spanish is pretty poor and so didnt understand a word the guy was saying.

Now that would be a seriousley interesting job!! Doubt an estate would pay for it though

Nothing could be funnier than watching someone fall over in really sloppy muddy mud..... you should have set all the hand rails up so that if someone leans on them they fall over.... and then get some CCTV up - £250 a pop from you've been framed, you could make a living out of it!

LOL good letter - true too. Those arsehole MP's have really taken the pi$$ recently.... the rest of us would be up in court if we have done to the tax man what the MP has done to the Tax Payer. It's about time we had a civil uprising in this country - chuck the whole bloody lot out of government, not one of them is worth the money they are paid. Seems to me the only thing we are here for is to line the governments pocket, from expenses through to salary and then still paying for all the lazy sods that would rather be on the dole than actually work for a living. I dont know the exact figures, but I was hearing a few weeks back that out of all the people in the country, one third can't work because they're either retired or too young, one third is unemployed, ill or disabled, and the last remaining third support the other two thirds tax wise! That means I am working to support two other people... Surely the system is there and favours people who do less, and penalises those who actually work for a living.

I'll try to get out and get some more pictures of this.... not sure when i'll get time as it's not accessible by vehicle which means walking for about a mile to get to it.