Tony Croft aka hamadryad

cool, thanks for the heads up mozza

thanks mdvaden, shall bear it in mind tony the tree, may i suggest you change the homepage image for one with the guys visor down! just an observation.

The unpropped body point is something i always worry about! Ive been making a point of sticking the prop in a lot lately! The "it wont take me a second" attitude has to be one of the worst choices we ever make. It may never happen? it does!

I love claus books, for anyone interested there should be one coming out this summer so keep some pennies aside! tensile triangles and shear squares, youll never look at trees the same again! the mans a genius!

I would be very interested in the answer to this one.

Being on a good wage has its advantages, as does having control and being a freelance. they both have their downsides too, as does running your own firm, i guess ive been a wage slave for so long i have lost my faith in myself and the fearless ness of just going for it!

charlieh, how much is one of those chainsaw mills you have in your avatar? is it good? do the planks need much "finishing"?

I had a crash in a company vehicle a few months back, dont ask me how but if I had a pound for every "no win no fee" company that has called me since i could retire! how do they get your number!

if ayoung lad within his first year or two got hurt on my watch i would feel responsible, but I am big enough and ugly enough to know better and to take care fo my own arse, I couldnt sleep if I took the mickey by suing somone for my own stupidity

i shall keep my faithfull four legged friend inside out of harms way and hire a techno viking to gaurd my kit! sorted!

nobody told me that! I would have been downloading science papers like a loon otherwise! Thanks gibbon

I think theres an nptc for this one, maybe someone will confirm or deny?

FFS! can i open my mouth without it all going pete tong in here, note the obvious tone NOT academic! lol i know what hes saying in a round about way, that I shouldnt asume that a fungal colonisation is atypical etc, i get that, hence this thread, I DONT KNOW SO I AM ASKING! And why would I have an athens code? and how would i find mine?

yeah my boss got sued by a lad that fell out of a tree onto some railings, hes paranoid now, practicaly wipes all our bums for us and drives me nuts! If i have an accident thats down to my stupidity no one elses!

Of all the trees I have seen it on oak is not one of them, maybe there is a connection to the trees you all describe lacking a durable Heartwood core? chestnut, ash beech sycamore.

mmm academic speaking, hard to fully grasp for me at the mo, but get the majority of what you say here. evolution is happening as we speak, things are having to adapt and change, rigidiporus on poplar, auricularia judea increasing host range etc. but thats not realy what i am getting at, more to do with what people are doing out there whats working for them and what seems to be a waste of time failing. Ted green and his "special formula" for the "giggles" violent click beetles etc sort of thing, observations people have made, little insights to preferences of certain bugs

shame about the photo, dont know much about dungies, looks like a massive weevil!

I guess I made the assumption it would be a legal reqiurment, and wrongly. and really what is it with you and the litle digs? Its strange you've been in the industry for 22 years and don't know that. Its been a while since ive HAD to think about all this stuff! ive had other things to think about and having worked for others for nigh on six years I havent HAD to think about anything other than getting up to go to work and coming home at the end of a day!

extract from- http://buglife.org.uk/conservation/adviceonmanagingbaphabitats/lowlandwoodpasturesandparkla.htm as many seem only to be focusing on the "bug" aspect of the coronets benifits, there are other organisms that will relish this technique. Encourage the growth of a variety of fungi The presence of fungal growth such as bracket fungi should not be seen as a reason to remove or prune a tree, as only a minority of fungi are a primary source of tree death. Fungi not only provide an essential breeding medium for many species of flies and beetles, but they also contribute to the decay of dead heartwood in older trees. This reduces a tree’s bulk whilst leaving the living sapwood intact, which can actually make the tree better able to withstand high winds. Soft, red rotten heartwood is the sole habitat of some of our rarest and most threatened invertebrates, such as the larvae of the Violet click beetle, and very wet wood mould with a porridge-like consistency is the larval habitat for the craneflies Ctenophora ornata and Gnophomyia elsneri. Felling or removing trees with heart-rot could result in the extinction of these specialist species. Natural fractures and jagged stumps should not be tidied or treated, as the snags will potentially allow the entry of heart-rot fungi and provide access for invertebrates. Consider creating new deadwood niches Management of trees to create additional deadwood habitat by ring barking selected limbs should be considered where they do not pose a health and safety risk. Creating new pollards from young trees is one way of providing more niches for saproxylic invertebrates at sites where continuity of standing dead wood is likely to be a problem. At many sites there is a large age gap between the ancient trees and any others in the area. Continuity of habitat is essential if the saproxylic fauna is to survive, as many are poor colonisers and cannot travel far to find suitable habitats.

On the hunt for some thread specific stuff i found this really great site, you have to pay for the full PDF files if you want the full reports/research but will be worth it for looking into special and niche areas of this subject. I located some great docs, and next pay day will be having a few for sure, and will keep you posted if i learn something interesting. ScienceDirect - Home

i thought that work in the root zone looked a bit "new" Brouage town hall spokesman Gerard Clion said: 'The tree was very, very old and had been conserved during the restoration of the historic town centre. 'It had been inspected by council experts and was considered safe. The weather conditions were normal, with only a light breeze at the time it happened.' It is a great tragedy that has shocked the town.' And one has to ask, just how competant the inspector was! and i would like to know how long it was since the inspection, before or after the "renovation"

Dont worry tommer I get your point! Even so, are you not reqiured by law to have personal public liabiltiy if offering yourself for "service" i was even when i was doing photography as a freelance for another firm? i was invoicing the main contractor and they was invoicing the client, iether way YOU ARE invoicing and must be insured in my understanding?

i said there are grey areas, and SOME clients choose aa approved, there is ALWAYS exceptions, i was merely putting out there an observation, as in my experiance aa aproved firms seem to charge more in comparisom only quoting one line suits YOUR purpose sky!

Stags for example, including the lesser, in my experience would given the choice take Ash over oak, i find many Stag Sp in old pollards/heavey pruned ash where I do not find them in the oaks. I also think they may prefer a certain degredation of the wood prior to moving in? maybe there are specific qualities in ash that are of a superior fodder maybe Pholiota squarosus (common but/root infection of ash) infection has much appeal, like a form of palo pedero for bugs? heavy pruning of an asjh leading to dysfunctional core old tap root dying and colonisation by pholiota creating an ideal scenario?

probably! Tis true though that certain clients will seek AA approval as a "pre requisite" to employing you, and that has obvious "differentials" AA approved cant compete with the NON approved and vice versa, but there is always a grey bit inbetween.