Sutton

I like you John. You with your motorcycle leathers used as PPE dismantling trees in the grounds of a place for the severely unwell 🤣. Your comment is thought-provoking. You remind me of an old film starring Walter Matthau as Charley Varrick. His character's company motto is "Last of the Independents" - we watched it the other night. If you like anti-corporate lone-wolf 1970s films then have a view sometime. Anyway, I've a legal question for you: Does the OP's private acceptance of "funds" (which in this instance may simply be a discount off the purchase price of the house) constitute a legally bidding contract not only between buyer and seller but also in whatever arbitrary and inconsistent demands the neighbour's insurance legal department comes up with? I would suggest the "funds" are a private matter and the transfer of ownership and thus the responsibility over the tree of the dispute is public, i.e. traceable, documented, etc. The law may have a better understanding of this difference than me though 🤣 If the original request to remove the tree was modified by an agreed compromise (the pollarding) and then this is changed again by the insurers back to the original demand (complete removal), then why do you advise the OP to give up and pay up? Haven't the insurers not breeched their contract of the pollarding compromise with the OP? (- granted the insurance company's primary duty is with the structure of the neighbour's property but a contract is still a contract, is it not?) If anyone else has an inkling please chip in 🤣

Just as metal expands with heat, so it contracts with cold You might not be able to heat up the bearings but Put your iron rod in the freezer for a few hours before hand

Got any links to substantiate this? What sources are you using?

Do you do rural work as well forestry? I deal regularly with 20 or so land owners, some of which are farmers but this is down in the south west where farming may be very different. Most I've meet are practically minded and have engineering skills which means they know about stress loads and tolerances. HSE law means few mess about like the fool-hardy weekend warriors we used to see here on Arbtalk, that is, most landowners I know would say something like "if you want to get something done right and first time, get in the professionals". We can all agree that Steve's photos show some serious fuzzy duck bollox, right?

This is the most telling: "The industry is diluting as established organisations lose people who start small enterprises with their mates or, worse still, become ‘freelance’ climbers." I'd interpret this as meaning his consultancy is based on distinguishing business structures, management practises, administrative box-ticking (he actually believes it's important to tell us he remembers to bring pencils to meetings!) and workers on the actual ground (or up in the tree - you see what I did there!). In short, he is clearly stating that if you're NOT part of a big organisation in arb then you're not in the industry - which is clearly nonsense!

I'd trust most farmers to know the basics of compression and tension. But there's no de-compressing undercut on top. We'd expect from windblown so most likely an amateur. If it's ash and had dieback then there might not have been anyneed? If I was a poor farmer with a small unreliable saw with a view to heating the hearth this winter then I could see why the base cut was made. The butt will start to season, the sign warns road uses of a hazard and the after-thought props are a feeble attempt to keep it off the verge. Of course, this is only tongue in cheek guessing :)

What fish? Hake?

There's a lot of steel in there too holding all those pallets and batters together 🤣

Anyone able to explain this wood pigeon behaviour? As well as woodland work, we keep livestock. This dry weather means wildlife are drinking from the water troughs which is fine. Except the pigeons behave like kiddies with aerosols tagging their graffiti shite 🤣 Here's what happens. A pair will fly in, perch on the edge of the trough, drink, then turn round and poo in it! Everytime! Everyday! For Pete's sake why? 🤣

I was curious about the RPA calc too. 10 mtrs from existing house and a 5mtr extention over the RPA puts the stem over 80cm DBH - though unusual in suburbia - would mean the TO would need more than the usual "convincing". Obviously the OP averaged the asymmetry and put on a couple of mtr on the RPA to be safe. The odd crown shape indicates another tree was possibly removed recently. But again we haven't seen pictures, soil type, gradient etc so no real point in guessing. The OP also needs to view the LPA policy guidelines of trees in the wider context of the area. A side extension means semi-detached at the least which means houses in the area will have bigger gardens which means more trees. Guidelines always account for the character of the vicinity. Lastly, @slack ma girdle alluded to lime tree honeydew which can drift sideways rather than drop straight down. @Chrissio as Kevin says, get in an expert, you might not get much from Arbtalk if you wont supply decent info. Dont forget to update us with your consultant's prognosis after.

You need to understand the mindset of planners. Your three questions are dependent on many variables so the procedural experts here on this forum may not be able to offer much with what you've given so far. Lets start with the tree itself. Is your 5 metre distance to the trunk or the outermost edge of the crown?

Look forward to it. It looks from your picture that the stem twisted 90° as it fell. The growth rings tell their own story too.

In the 3rd pic (copied below) you can see what look like green fly on the stems. Quite a few years ago we experimented coppicing any young woodland ash with dieback to see whether they'd improve. All new growth or risers had these little prominent growths. None recovered. I'd be interested if anyone else has seen these dark growths and if they are related to dieback. Thanks.

I'm a lapsed catholic and appaul your use of wearing gloves when touching such filth 😂

We're south of you on the Londond-Brizzol M4 corridor and still get the "it's not what you know nor who you know but what you know about who you know!" Sometimes the committee deciding on tenders are looking at more than the bottom line. It's been said before and I'm sure it's been said many times on here before, but some, and I mean "some", never go for the cheapest quote. Good Luck :)

This is true to an extent in the simple causal sense but it's not the whole story. It's more complicated than that. Though it's obviously a good enough explanation for most suburbian tree owners etc. It's not just strangulation, sail-effect, insects/grubs boring down into the covered bark, nutritional deprivation by competition nor is just a declining tree having a less dense canopy that then lets more light down to the ground either. Back in the day, someone like @Tony Croft aka hamadryad might write something cryptic about needing to investigate symbiotic fungal-chemical signals between the roots of the opportunistic ivy and the tree it uses to climb. This isn't the place to write an essay and work is calling. Read Gimlet 's post back abit.

@coppice cutter we use a 12v battery car battery plus -> 240 inverter for a £60-£80 for de-dagging etc

Before I stopped needing to advertise in Yellow Pages back in the 00s, I used to be contacted by forestry students on degree courses looking for Woodland Management experience. I tried out five students over 7 years and I can say that academically aka theoretically, they were very good on paper. That is, they could talk the talk, if you know what I mean. If you want to employ someone to write reports recommending x or y or z and occasionally point a finger at what needs doing, then you have your answer. Forestry is also about how not just what and when. The question of how comes from experience of being hands on or coming up from the tools as well as being mentored with those with even greater experience. That's how I learnt and I've tried to pass on a bit too

Thanks. I maintain over 10 mile of fencing over the many fields we rent and gave up on so-called tanalised round posts as they weren't lasting 5 year on limestone down here near Bath. Sawn oak and split chestnut are our preference but I've heard some give up on wooden stakes altogether and are using angle iron or even scaffolding poles. Glad you get the opportunity to do it properly.

The hayrack means sheep/goats. The barbwire means defo not horsey despite its pony paddock size. Barbwire normally means cattle yet it's too small for them. The oak means you have discerning clientel. Tell us a bit more of thinking behind the design? It can't be just because it looks nice. For instance, the verges are mown but there's a gate that goes across the road or is that a private tarmaced drive? Are the owners going to use livestock to keep the verges down?

New to us. Thanks for the suggestion. Just for amusement, here's an academic pharmacist's alternative perspective: https://theconversation.com/kombucha-kimchi-and-yogurt-how-fermented-foods-could-be-harmful-to-your-health-126131 The author doesn't like alcohol, it seems :) https://www.westminster.ac.uk/news/manal-mohammed-for-which-about-the-common-mistakes-that-people-make-when-using-hand-sanitiser

Try googling pioneer trees for your area accounting for wind exposure, soil type, annual rainfall, etc. Look at this and tell us what you think: Treewilding; Six British tree species to boost your restoration project WWW.VISIONWILD.CO.UK There are some native tree species that really stand out to the ecologist in me as excellent candidates for British rewilding...

What have we got? What's changed and why? Are we going to do anything about it and who's paying? :)

Are you political? Your rhetoric reminds me of the People's Front of Judea! Re-read your stated soapboxing above and substitute ivy for anything "undesirable" and you'll see what I mean.