JaySmith

Geoweb may offer a suitable solution. Have a look at their website. I did a cpd seminar with them recently and the guy was very helpful, they offer free site visits and consultation. The guys name is James Gormley number is 07487738473 he was an ARB who has moved into this work and was very knowledgable

Yes very much a magical place. Not sure if a rec climb could be organised, if you did it official you would need to go through The Warren (management offices) to get it ok'd. If you just rocked up then you may get stopped by the forest keepers as they patrol the forest and 10 - 20 arbs would surely raise suspicion!

Thanks for the reply. Yes I worked there for a year one a traineeship where I did my tickets etc. Big Bertha was used in a segment we filmed for countryfile and one we used to do climbing practice on. I know the wood yard at the roundabout which is a bit further north than big Bertha I seem to remember. To be honest it could be one of many trees there as there are too many special Beech trees in that area of the forest!

Think that one in last picture is 'big Bertha' was it up by high beeches (near the Kings Oak pub?)

I met Julian when we did some work there, very nice guy and very knowledgable. Do you do the felling/forestry ops there?

Yeah I think it would straight fell from memory. The issue with Bedgebury is they plant small new replacement trees near the larger ones so if they need removing then they need to be dismantled. When the tender went through last year or the year before I think Navin from Greencut got it so he may film it if they are still doing the work there.

PM me your email address and I will send you a template tomorrow if you like

Yeah saw the article in the paper Mark. Have you seen it? It's a beast i had a good look at it when we worked there. The one we took down was around 120ft and I could see the old man of Kent in the distance. I visited Bedgebury before xmas, at that time it hadn't suffered the damage but did have significant die back in the upper crown so this may have contributed. Would be an epic tree to take down!

What time scale are you aiming to complete it in? I had already done a level two in arb but wanted to do the rfs level two to get back into studying after a break so found myself going over old ground. I did it in 8 months but found the workload fairly manageable, IMO the level four requires much more time and effort

I did my level two RFS cert Arb with HCC and am just finishing my Level 4 diploma with The Training Tree. The difference between the two courses is immense, not just in terms of the subjects covered by the workload. I completed the level two in around eight months working a couple of Saturday's a month on the course work. The level four however takes up a lot of your time, I have regularly been doing a couple of hours each night after work, all day Saturday and some Sunday's to keep on track. I would definitely recommend starting with Level two unless you have some significant experience as the step up is fairly significant and the biology side of things is hard going at Level four. Level two does help to condition you for the level four if that makes sense. Take a look at The Training Tree, Lisa Sanderson is the trainer and is very good. They are doing the level two now I believe and were looking at offering it via distance learning so well worth a look.

One from yesterday's walk. Lots of soil erosion on the front side and compacted soil on the back side

I am not sure how you plan on studying but if it is via distance learning or day release I don't think there is anywhere that offers level three. There is a vast difference between level two and level four. I did my RFS (level two) after being in the industry about four years. It is a good qualification and does teach you a lot. However it is aimed at a lower level so as others have said some of the information is drip fed to you. The content is also a lot less. With level four you have to evaluate things a lot more and go into a hell of a lot more detail. It involves critically evaluating other work and methods and rely on you going away and finding out the answers as well as looking at various research papers and standards to back up what you have said. A lot of the level two stuff is recapped at level four but also goes into a lot more detail. For example instead of saying that the Silver birch on a planting plan is too close to the building and leaving it at that you them come up with reasons why. So this could include damage to built structures, fast growth habit of a pioneer species, pruning may be required, CODIT etc etc. The work expected of you in level four is far greater, during the academic year I've got about thirty five assignments to complete and each one varies from 4,000 - 15,000 words. I find myself working about nine hours at the weekend on the coursework and around eight hours in the week. By contrast with the level two I did around six hours at the weekend and finished within seven months, but they are flexible and you can work it around other committments. I am glad I did my level two first off as it gives a good base from which to expand but when I was looking I couldn't find any level three courses that I could fit around work.

Oak reduction from today 1.5m off top and up to 3m off laterals in places

He was on a basic tree inspection course I did a few years ago keeping up his cpd! I got the impression what he doesn't know about trees probably wasn't worth knowing. I think he recently did the survey for the line of lime trees they are trying to remove in St Albans.

Normally a three day course with a written and practical exam at the end. For the exam there are questions that relate to kit as well as regs such as PUWER, WAH etc. This is followed by 10 items that you have to comment on and pass or fail. If you pass the written aspect but fail the practical then you can just resist the practical at a later date. Very good course

We often leave our tracked chipper trailer on the road with the nose lock on it and take the number off, mainly to stop somebody stealing the plate as well but I suppose it is then very hard to identify it without the number plate on the back. Although I am guessing this probably flouts a law that says that a number plate should be displayed at all times

Yes for a few courses, guys I work with have also been on his courses. Excellent tuition, quality set up and he really knows his stuff

Pretty much, I would say the workload of the level two is about a quarter or maybe a third of the level four as a guide

I did my level 2 through HCC before starting the level 4. I would do the level 2 first as it covers some of the basics that are expanded upon at level 4. If you have lots of experience already (not practical experience) then you may be ok starting at level 4 but I am glad I did level 2 first

About £60 from treesource if I remember correctly

I would say the best chipper we have had was a sub 750kg. It was a Jensen. A530 had hardly any maintenance on it and it went on and on. Admittedly you had to prepare the brash for it. We've hade big heavy Schliesing's that weren't without fault and our current forst loves to shake itself loose, we are forever tightening bits up. I guess that they are all much of muchness and it will come down to who does the best deal, who's closest etc.

The RFS cert ARB is a good course and can be done with the HCC college for around £350 if I remember correctly. This is home study and can be done at your own pace to fit around family life etc. It is a good entry level course and will teach some of the basics and covers a broad range of topics. Aside from this the lantra basic tree inspection course is also worthwhile and will help you with a basic understanding of id and faults. Download some of the free tree publications on tree survey and risk as they will give some good background understanding. The Arb Association also run courses on pest and disease and basic tree surveying, check the AA website for details. If you can get a copy of BS3998 as well and read through that. With regards to the CS units don't necessarily rush out to get all of these in one go. Chipper ticket, stump grinder, 30 and 31 will give you a head start and maybe some employment, the rest can then follow and maybe an employer will pay towards the climbing tickets if you show commitment. If you have anything extra such as machinery maintenance experience and a b+e licence then this will be advantageous

Thanks for the kind words David. Are those pics of me? Don't remember climbing that tree over at the Heath?? I remember we did some work on a large Ash in the morning which I think Phil? climbed. Those pics, if they are me look like Casper showing me some climbing bits and bobs. I thought that we climbed some Hornbeam's in a glade when I came over? Yes was a shame I couldn't have done the apprenticeship at the Heath but I don't believe there was an opportunity at the time if I remember correctly. I think the two sites offer very different propositions, at Hampstead you guys are more focused on preservation, decay detection and the ecological side of arb. You also seem to be a lot more focused on risk management, probably due for the nature of the site and high public access. A lot of your stock seems to be better managed and so the need for reactive works may be less to some extent as it has been more proactively managed over time. By contrast Epping is more focused on the forestry side of things and playing catch up with the management of the veteran trees so things like decay detection don't really happen as freely as you promote them. Saying that my time at Epping taught me a great deal and allowed me to learn things quickly as there wasn't the commercial time constraints that we have in contracting. I tried to find the area that we climbed and that large Ash when I was up there a few weekends ago but couldn't seem to get my bearings, although it was six years since my visit! I would recommend the COL to anybody who gets the chance, you'll learn a lot!

COL is an excellent opportunity to learn and earn at the same time and also learn without the pressures of the commercial environment. Was probably the best year in arb I have had thus far. Good to see your new recruit is doing well!

Possibly Lime