Tony Croft aka hamadryad

SWB:001_smile: Beaufort number Description Wind speed Wave height Sea conditions Land conditions Sea state photo km/h mph kts m/s m ft 0 Calm < 1 < 1 < 1 < 0.3 0 0 Flat. Calm. Smoke rises vertically. 1 Light air 1.1 – 5.5 1 – 3 1 – 2 0.3 – 1.5 0 – 0.2 0 – 1 Ripples without crests. Wind motion visible in smoke. 2 Light breeze 5.6 – 11 4 – 7 3 – 6 1.6 – 3.4 0.2 – 0.5 1 – 2 Small wavelets. Crests of glassy appearance, not breaking Wind felt on exposed skin. Leaves rustle. 3 Gentle breeze 12 – 19 8 – 12 7 – 10 3.4 – 5.4 0.5 – 1 2 – 3.5 Large wavelets. Crests begin to break; scattered whitecaps Leaves and smaller twigs in constant motion. 4 Moderate breeze 20 – 28 13 – 17 11 – 15 5.5 – 7.9 1 – 2 3.5 – 6 Small waves with breaking crests. Fairly frequent white horses . Dust and loose paper raised. Small branches begin to move. 5 Fresh breeze 29 – 38 18 – 24 16 – 20 8.0 – 10.7 2 – 3 6 – 9 Moderate waves of some length. Many white horses. Small amounts of spray. Branches of a moderate size move. Small trees begin to sway. 6 Strong breeze 39 – 49 25 – 30 21 – 26 10.8 – 13.8 3 – 4 9 – 13 Long waves begin to form. White foam crests are very frequent. Some airborne spray is present. Large branches in motion. Whistling heard in overhead wires. Umbrella use becomes difficult. Empty plastic garbage cans tip over. 7 High wind, Moderate gale, Near gale 50 – 61 31 – 38 27 – 33 13.9 – 17.1 4 – 5.5 13 – 19 Sea heaps up. Some foam from breaking waves is blown into streaks along wind direction. Moderate amounts of airborne spray. Whole trees in motion. Effort needed to walk against the wind. Swaying of skyscrapers may be felt, especially by people on upper floors. 8 Gale, Fresh gale 62 – 74 39 – 46 34 – 40 17.2 – 20.7 5.5 – 7.5 18 – 25 Moderately high waves with breaking crests forming spindrift. Well-marked streaks of foam are blown along wind direction. Considerable airborne spray. Some twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road. Progress on foot is seriously impeded. 9 Strong gale 75 – 88 47 – 54 41 – 47 20.8 – 24.4 7 – 10 23 – 32 High waves whose crests sometimes roll over. Dense foam is blown along wind direction. Large amounts of airborne spray may begin to reduce visibility. Some branches break off trees, and some small trees blow over. Construction/temporary signs and barricades blow over. Damage to circus tents and canopies. 10 Storm[6], Whole gale 89 – 102 55 – 63 48 – 55 24.5 – 28.4 9 – 12.5 29 – 41 Very high waves with overhanging crests. Large patches of foam from wave crests give the sea a white appearance. Considerable tumbling of waves with heavy impact. Large amounts of airborne spray reduce visibility. Trees are broken off or uprooted, saplings bent and deformed. Poorly attached asphalt shingles and shingles in poor condition peel off roofs. 11 Violent storm 103 – 117 64 – 72 56 – 63 28.5 – 32.6 11.5 – 16 37 – 52 Exceptionally high waves. Very large patches of foam, driven before the wind, cover much of the sea surface. Very large amounts of airborne spray severely reduce visibility. Widespread damage to vegetation. Many roofing surfaces are damaged; asphalt tiles that have curled up and/or fractured due to age may break away completely. 12 Hurricane-force [6] ≥ 118 ≥ 73 ≥ 64 ≥ 32.7 ≥ 14 ≥ 46 Huge waves. Sea is completely white with foam and spray. Air is filled with driving spray, greatly reducing visibility. Very widespread damage to vegetation. Some windows may break; mobile homes and poorly constructed sheds and barns are damaged. Debris may be hurled about.

I tell you what then dean, you go and tell them that, then fell it for them, then replant it for them, and come back every six weeks to replant the tree after the locals have ripped it out of the ground, or every dog has crapped on it and peed on it and killed its juvenile roots by eutrophication burns!

Lightning

What i do is preserve trees in the urban environment, the pruning i do maintains a trees form and function, what nature does is wait till a trees old and weak then smash it to bits in a dirty messy unclean manner. she does her job and does it well, and nature thrives in her garden, but i dont do habitat work, i do managment in the urban fringe, tis a different game altogether. What you have to remember is if it wasnt for guys like us/me trees couldnt be kept in towns, simple as that.

You do make me laugh, butchered? I would like to see you reduce to that standard! oh but you would have felled it! In my last job we felled most of the time, inner london, big oaks and all, I moved jobs partly because I could no longer live with it. Now I work and wherever I go at the end of the day there are still trees, safe trees with good shape and form, that my friends is arboriculture.

over the past 22 years I have proven my judgments, 5 years ago I might not have liked this fork very much, but i know better these days. If this trees maintianed regular enough say every two years it will stabalise and continue to provide amenity value to the residants. The raywood is a beautiful tree, and this was a specimen, its worth the effort.

SWB I said in all but a force ten! in which situation NO tree comes with a garuantee I cant remember the buefort scale of hand but isnt it at 7 it states wide spread damage and loss of trees? If the fork had not failed with a full crown what on earth makes you think it can fail now with half the loading!

oh by the way, it isnt included bark, this is a defective strain of ash, the weakness is well known and can be reduced and relieved by reduction through its life so that tissues can build around the unions, maintaining a lower lever arm on limbs also helps. The "Raywood ash" is one of those trees that needs to be pruned for its own good. If you read up on bio mechanics youll see that with secondary thickening eventualy forms a single band of rings around the double hearts, I will dig out some pics and references for you "knockers" So you would fell it, you havent enough confidance to save it, The next time one of your clients says my great great grandfather planted this tree what can we do to save it, restore it? you can give them my number!

My loading of a fork via a rope and harnes at extreme angles and possible slips is a very different stress that precaution was just that a precation, for the work ON A FULL CROW WITH MY WIEGHT and leverage of rope points. The strap slackened right off after the work and I am happy and I will GAURANTEE the work for twelve months! That tree isnt going to fail in the next twelve months, and if you dont trust me, thats your problem.

good stuff!

This tree is now stable, under that rough bark tissues are fusing, given time and annual assesment with regular bi annual prunes its good. I will put my career on the line for that statement. An assesment is good for as long as you state its good for, that trees good for two years, and thats a garauntee in all but a force ten! Knee jerkers!

Good luck fella, go for it.

if its down to numbers attending on getting this one organised i would consider adding myself, would be a good ticket to have, even though Ive been cabling for donkies it would be good to have the ticket.

"Raywood" Fraxinus oxycarpa from today. Active weak union on the main fork, no suprises, lots of tearing in the crown from branch losses. We strapped up the fork as a precaution, stop any fork failures from rope point leverages whilst work was carried out. Fork loading reduced the strap loosened off nicely, so happy that this ones safe and can be left alone for a few years to recover now.[/font] This variety of ash is renowned for its weak unions and branch loss, this is the biggest "Raywood" Ash Ive ever seen, about or just under 3mtrs around the butt. And a pic of the Oak from last Friday, had been pollarded high at some point loads of old stubs and dead stems. Regrowth was good though and we stabalised the crown with a gentle reduction. Another one sorted and safe for a few more years.

Blimey you lot are a bit heavey for climbers!

The tree austria 3 brilliant, had the same issue for years and I love this new harness light and comfortable, can wear it all day long without an issue.

Proposed programme to include: Compact VTA - update lecture to present the state of the art information on Visual Tree Assessment & Tree Engineering New verdicts & selected legal points of view regarding tree diagnosis Thinking tools free of formulae – shear square method, the tensile triangles & the brand new method of force cones Separation shear cracks at the root buttress whose higher risk can only be understood by use of the shear squares Hot spots of dead wood assessment Sac fungi - a new related failure criterion Review of new tree diagnosis tools from IML Possibilities & limitations for age determination of perennial fungal fruit bodies How broadleaved trees fight spiral cracks & the biomechanical similarities between the hazard beam crack and spiral crack

Oi OI! Ive got my place on the Hatfield meeting! Happy days!

I found a website for investigators of crane crashes once, I will try and find it again, would be good to add here!

Do you know what monkey it aint just them, EN are letting the managment destroy a sssi called Whippendell woods. I looked up the annual report that apparantley suggested no rise in detrimental activity nor problems that needed further inspection. This is total BS, Ive walked this wood for 15 years or more and Its being dug up by You tube videoing Mountain bikers with pics shovels and barrows. The "chosen contractors" are going in with a mog and ripping shallow beech roots while they go in to fell a meripilus beech in mid fruiting spreading the spores into the damage theyve done as they go! and two weeks a go they felled another merip beech straight onto an decent Oak and took the bark right off on one side of it. I am fuming cos the guys that asses and make the orders ern twice what I am on and doing a crap job of it.

Im hoping for a space at the hatfield meeting.

Yep thats a fell allright! In that position I wouldnt replant with horse chestnut and no it wouldnt infect the new planting. Maybe a nice multi stemmed betula Ermanii? Ermans birch, something not so big, more gracefull and lightly foiliaged with white bark reflecting light rather than absorbing it.

Is anyone else planning on attending this one? I will most likely, will be based on the tensile triangles and shear squares I believe. Anyone whos never heard Claus speak should go, he's class, and will make you laugh!

This one has a million and 1 uses! would take a great video of somone doing a reduction from all angles. I could even use it to drop my bait where bait boats are banned! loopholes!

getting a nurse to rub savlon into my skinned shins and chest after climbing that ugly mother!