janey

What Parrotia?

That's interesting. I've only ever seen Eucryphias as small shrubby things before and I would never assosciate them with having that kind of height.

Emerald Ash Borer epa_emerald_ash_borer.pdf

I got in too late to see the chainsaw shenanigans . The rest of the programme was good and yet another reminder to me that I really should get myself down there at some point.

Aw, Steeeeeevvve, stop playing with us like that

I wonder if they get paid by the hour ?

Of course you haven't!!! You say that you want to work with trees, but that is a very broad range of careers. Would you rather work indoors or outside? Would you prefer to be "hands on" and do practical work or are you more academic?

If you can't find any alternatives, could you not do your one day at college and then work one day over the weekend to compensate for it?

Was that you doing the cork harvesting on your travels?

Ditto on that. I've saved the link and I'll go through it some more when I have a bit more time.

I think Hama can answer this one pretty well http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/fungi-pictures/13300-meripilus-thread.html

Hi there matty'. I don't suppose you have any pics? It would be a great help with our (educated, of course) guesses

It's got to be one of the few times you can get away with using spikes for pruning And you won't have to worry about finding an OPM nest as cork oaks don't get infested.

Amenity 3.2 The Act does not define 'amenity', nor does it prescribe the circumstances in which it is in the interests of amenity to make a TPO. In the Secretary of State's view, TPOs should be used to protect selected trees and woodlands if their removal would have a significant impact on the local environment and its enjoyment by the public. LPAs should be able to show that a reasonable degree of public benefit would accrue before TPOs are made or confirmed. The trees, or at least part of them, should therefore normally be visible from a public place, such as a road or footpath, although, exceptionally, the inclusion of other trees may be justified. The benefit may be present or future; trees may be worthy of preservation for their intrinsic beauty or for their contribution to the landscape or because they serve to screen an eyesore or future development; the value of trees may be enhanced by their scarcity; and the value of a group of trees or woodland may be collective only. Other factors, such as importance as a wildlife habitat, may be taken into account which alone would not be sufficient to warrant a TPO. In the Secretary of State's view, it would be inappropriate to make a TPO in respect of a tree which is dead, dying or dangerous. 3.3 LPAs should be able to explain to landowners why their trees or woodlands have been protected by a TPO. They are advised to develop ways of assessing the 'amenity value' of trees in a structured and consistent way, taking into account the following key criteria: (1) visibility: the extent to which the trees or woodlands can be seen by the general public will inform the LPA's assessment of whether its impact on the local environment is significant. If they cannot be seen or are just barely visible from a public place, a TPO might only be justified in exceptional circumstances; (2) individual impact: the mere fact that a tree is publicly visible will not itself be sufficient to warrant a TPO. The LPA should also assess the tree's particular importance by reference to its size and form, its future potential as an amenity, taking into account any special factors such as its rarity, value as a screen or contribution to the character or appearance of a conservation area. As noted in paragraph 3.2 above, in relation to a group of trees or woodland, an assessment should be made of its collective impact; (3) wider impact: the significance of the trees in their local surroundings should also be assessed, taking into account how suitable they are to their particular setting, as well as the presence of other trees in the vicinity.

Actual visual amenity forms only part of a tree's amenity, albeit one that is heavily weighted in Planning Legislation. Sound, scent, wind flow, temperature islands etc are not dependant on an ability to see well and still form part of a tree's amenity in the landscape.

You kids and your gadgets B. Common law remedies for nuisance trees Many people suffer nuisance from neighbouring trees because they may block light, have overhanging branches, and leave leaf litter and sap in neighbouring gardens. However, not all nuisance trees will be in a situation covered by the High Hedges provisions in the Ant-Social Behaviour Act 2003. For example, if it is only a single tree causing the problem. It is then necessary to look for a common law remedy. However, for the situation to be an actionable nuisance the tree needs to be proved to cause damage or harm. The proper recourse is then to contact the property insurers or to seek legal advice. Case law has set a precedent whereby some action can be taken by the householder without recourse to the law. For example, where the branches of a tree protrude into the airspace of another property, the tree owner is not obliged to cut back the tree. However, the person whose property is overhung may at any time cut branches back to the boundary provided they can do so without entering the owners land. No notice need be given but the future stability of the tree needs to be taken into account as the neighbour would be liable for any damage that occurred as a result of the pruning. A similar right of abatement is allowed by cutting applied to encroaching roots. 1. Damage by trees – Law Lords Ruling Encroaching roots from neighbouring property may cause damage to house foundations, drains, or lightly loaded structures such as walls, drives and garages. However, if roots cause damage to built structures, an action in nuisance for an injunction and damages against the owner or occupier will depend on the extent to which damage was foreseeable. A high profile ruling by the House of Lords Appeal Court in 2001 against Westminster City Council made the situation clear in respect of tree damage from roots. The owners of a building took action against Westminster City Council where a single plane tree owned by the Council had damaged the foundations. Westminster Council refused to remove the tree and the claimant spent over £570,000 carrying out underpinning works which they then sought to claim from the council. The council lost its appeal to the House of Lords and the claimant recovered more than the cost of the repairs. The Lords ruled that if it is clear that where there is a continuing nuisance, which a defendant knows about or ought to know about, the claimant is entitled to recover the reasonable costs of eliminating the nuisance if he has given notice of the problem to the defendant and a reasonable opportunity to deal with it. The unanimous opinion of the Law Lords summarises the major English case law relating to damage to property, particularly foundations, caused by tree roots belonging to trees on a neighbouring property. I understand that your constituent is only experiencing problems with the branches but the ruling is available at http://www.parliament.the-stationeryoffice.co.uk/pa/ld200102/ldjudgmt/jd011025/dela-1.htm. 2. Right to light As a property owner you can acquire a legal right to a certain amount of natural light. Common law provides this “right to light” which may be acquired by 'anyone who has had uninterrupted use of something over someone else's land for 20 years without consent, openly and without threat, and without interruption of more than a year.' The acceptable level of light in a home is taken to be where just over half the room is lit by natural light. Broadly Lemmon v Webb [1894] 3 Ch 1, affirmed [1895] AC 1, where it was held that a neighbour could lop boughs overhanging his property without notice to the owner of the tree, provided that he could do so without entering the owner's land, Lindley, Lopes and Kay LJJ all said that a similar right of abatement by cutting applied to encroaching roots (see [1894] 3 Ch 1, 14, 16 and 24). See House of Lords ruling HL55, Delaware Mansions Ltd v. Lord Mayor & Citizens of Westminster, 25 October 2001 speaking, the minimum standard is equivalent to the light from one candle, one foot away. However, the law also recognises that some loss of light is acceptable and the fact that there is less light does not necessarily give a land owner a right to complain. As the law presently stands, a right to light is attached to a window or aperture and it is the amount of light that passes through the aperture which counts. There is no right to light in an open space or in a garden. Further guidance on hedge height and light loss has been provided by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and is available at Department for Communities and Local Government 07970.pdf

Section B snsc-02999.pdf

Yeah, it does look like I've got a bit of Marfan's going on. I blame the photographer myself I think he must've been in shock by the fact that he actually managed to get me to look at the camera for once

Haha, I'm lucky if mine actually works on tarmac at the moment, let alone on the byways. No, I was asking more from the point of view of passing on the info' to my brother who live not a million miles from you in Shaftsbury.

Damn you!!! And I thought I'd done so well keeping out of your way. I was going to thank you for my guided tour of Windsor, but I'm not so sure you deserve it now Just for that, here's my gotcha moment of you:

Two or four wheeled variety?

Hi Ben, there's also a huge amount of FREE info out there, if you know where to look. The Forestry Com / Forest Research has loads of downloads and are you aware of Arboricultural Information Excha? For books, Treesource as Hamma says is about the best place to go to, although if you know which particular title your after, Amazon can sometimes give you a better price.

That's rough . Sorry, I wasn't prying, honestly. Not this time anyway I was curious as to why someone with your obvious skill and enjoyment for what you do hadn't been able to express their talents for so long. Glad you seem to be back to a much healthier position in your life (Nice '650 btw)

It's a highly technical, specially designed jangly thing that's to be attached to your harness in order to make you look more knowledgeable than you fellow climbers.

Aha! It's only taken me the odd few years to find out how to do this