RobRainford

when learning these in college, i could never get my head round learning the flowers, when there were the trees selected for the flowers identification tests and we were being tested on flowers i could never get a good mark. but when the same trees come up in other tests and we are being tested on other means i could get them most of the time. same for the ancient woodland indicators and the soil indicator plants i could never get for some reason. but i am willing to learn anywho!

think of the risk involved aswell, he could slip on a wet floor and drown in the toilet!

i too would be i nterested inw hat the insurance companies say. Although it will probably be a while before i have any involvement in cable bracing, i do agree that installing it means you are admitting the problem but you are effectively slowing down the failure. This was discussed at college, if you put it in clear writing and put in all sorts of clauses about acknowledging weak points in a tree and the bracing will only prevent it but it can still fail regardless etc then i would think you have covered yourself sufficiently?

I too am skeptical there are going to be some obvious compromises, such as keeping battery weight low but this will hinder power, and then having amore powerful saw which would need a huge battery and long life to run for any sort of ample time

he is wearing a chainsaw protective jacket, which makes his over the head use less of a no no, but still a no no. he also does the back cut on that first tree whilst on both knees, no chance of getting into his escape routes...

Have you been driving through fields and gates again ed?

You'll find that you may get a good deal on eBay. I bought a pair from cts pn here. They are used but they will last a lifetime.

YouTube video [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZQApDl02lo&feature=youtube_gdata]YouTube - The death knoll[/ame]

The customer was constantly saying it's really frightening. I had to climb part of it and even then I was thinking I don't want to go too high and increase te lever arm with my body weight. As I could feel it wanting to come over

Haha. Strangely enough I had you in mind. I saved them all . I'll get a picture of them all tomorrow. One of them is still in situ with it's old pruning wound. I couldn't prise it off so I cut a slice off instead. No fear tony!

more pics this last image shows the decay zones really well, and also shows how much sound wood there actually was, approx an inch on half to 3/4 of the stem, if not less.

Well, today was going to be a half day ivy removal job, turned out to be very very different! As i removed some of the lowest parts of ivy not far after starting, i found what appear to be some old Ganoderma Australe brackets, there is one which still has the white underneath tbut the others were of the same appearance but where brown underneath, photos of those are to follow. This was on an old cherry, it had been pruned heavily before and badly, which is where the spores must have taken hold. I picked 6 seperate bodies off this tree, 4 from the tension side of the stem, one from an old pruning wound and another in between two branches which were at an included union to the two major stems. I stopped work and told the customer that this tree could go at any moment. Which they later mentioned in the day, that it had started to get a bit more lean since i first went to look at the job abouta month ago. Ill have a video on youtube which is a perfect example of the 'death knoll'. Scary scary stuff. Ill sleep soundly tonight though, knowing that this tree wont hurt anybody. As they have two young grandchildren now. after piecing it down i felled the remaining stem. Ignore the dodgy cut, it came down fine, my angles were just a tad out . The remaining wood in the stump was so soft, it could be dug out by hand, it was a good example of CODIT and the zones of decay, each wall between the decayed wood was rather strong, where in between it was mush. i dont have any pictures of the tree before it came down unfourtunately.

tom when you go into myerscoughs climbing room go into the caged off bit, there are some edelrid climbing lids in there, they have the earmuffs and a visor, i dont know how old they are so i wouldnt trust them, but they are better than the husky ones, the visor looks as thought it would always get in the way as instead of folding upwards, it flips out and just catches on everything. Mick Cottam is your guy to speak to, he did help write the good guide to climbing practice! WHy they never had proper climbing helmets always amazed me, but the people and students there dont always know any difference. How can we know if a ropes been shock loaded or someone stuck a spike in it but left no pulled strands? I can use my own systems better for having the nice easy low and slow practice at myerscough. Jim, tony and rob are all good guys, but they seem like they are getting a 'yeah whatever itll be ok' attitude, when i climb for a different guy who used to be an nptc instructor and assessor and somewhere up in the NPTC, he is always there on the ground with his eyes trained on me, if i really need him, he will happily come up the tree. It makes you feel so much safer. Because you are under instruction, you should have that one-to-one in the tree help. It is the best thing for amateur climbers to have. rant over!

The reasons mentioned above are the reason why I always took my own climbing kit to college. I knew how it had been used, what work it had done, and I always felt more safe!

this might be intriguing for you guys: This Is Apple's Next iPhone ill be getting one! ive had every model so far and a couple of the later ones due to replacements! angry birds is annoyingly addictive. i have ebay, facebook, paypal, arbtalk as a home screen bookmark. talking carl is fun for on the phone, as is the phonejacker app and the bullseye soundboard! bubble wrap is good for getting your fingers going in the morning other apps include flightcontrol digg amazon allrecipes UK Shazam knot guide (quite good!) redlaser whatsapp messenger (free texting between iphones, you pay 59p, and its always free to another person with an iphone. ) skeeball, the old arcade classic!

he might be a door to door honey sales-bee and he is bringing in his best examples to show you?

yeah it is best photographed from afar at night. but dont go into it at night, you may never come out!

you can buy a mesh visor which will fit on, if you have stihl/peltor ear defenders then you can buy a stihl visor and it fits straight on, but it replaces the solid visor, i found that if the lid got soem dirt on the peak and the visor was always being opened and closed, the visor would get all scratched. So i bought a mesh one. saved lots of hassle.

it is a suitable harness for tree work, a friend of mine uses one, they are a very comfy harness and are good for a beginner tree climber because if you slip you dont end up sideways because of the sliding D! It is suitable with or without the chest harness.

cant you see the obvious one? theres a guy stood with a chainsaw at the base

whereabouts on the east lancs? i live pretty much on it. i think i may have seen it but never paid much attention!

i bought 3 brushes from tesco for 24p. when my harness and other gear is covered in dried mud i just get some warm water and fairy liquid and brush everything down, makes it all shiny again! air compressors are very handy for cleaning anything, including dusty chainsaw pants and hair!

the FD is the course i am doing currently. you get 30/31 and 38/39 on the course in the first year, it is possible to work as you do this and take the part time or online course options. I opted for the full time. 3 days a week. Tom are you on the ND? im hopingo to jump on with the ND next year to do my 41, as i dont get it on the FD!

They are some funky lookin shrooms ed! Is that magic dust? =P are you sure the last ones aren't dog turd?

It's the new downy/hairy leaves. When they first open the hairs are easily dislodged and cause reapiatory issues. Deifnately wear a mask!