Sal

This is our new girl.

3yr old rescue who came to us 2 weeks ago. We're all still getting to know each other, and there's some work to be done, but she's coming along nicely.

Arb dog in the making.

Although when she 'stands up', she looks like a man in a dog suit.

Finished the FdSc earlier this year & to answer you questions:

-How long do you spend per day doing the work?

Same as Andy, a couple of hrs a night plus a good chunk of the weekend. I've just started another online course which I stay late after work to do so that I can make use of their extensive Arb library!

-How does the videoconferencing part of the course work? will i have to get a camera??

Didn't have to use video conferencing/webcam for our project proposal, just used Powerpoint with narration (may be a new feature of course?)

-And do employers value an online degree in the industry as much as a normall one? I've found that my employer/others I speak with are usually very positive about the amount of self-motivation you have to use to study this way. Shows that you can manage your own time/prioritise workloads etc.

The tutors can be very busy at times with multiple courses/years running at once, but emailing them directly and utilising the discussion boards as much as possible helps.

Hope this is useful

Quick observation (purely for my own interest, so apologies for the tangent). Why the lack of buttress on the one side? Previous girdling root? Just curious

Thanks again to all of you who answered the questions/left comments. I have now collected the results and its been a huge help. All the best - Sal

That's great! Huge thanks to all of you who have responded so far! Some interesting answers (and an emerging theme of dog poo!)

If you have a couple of mins spare, I'd be grateful if you could complete a short questionnaire for my FdSc Arboriculture final year work project. It's 10 tick box questions about why people visit/don't visit parks and I will be collecting the results Monday evening (13th April).

Thank you - Sal

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZTQFW2C

Great advice, thank you.

Would it be sufficient to nail/screw the ply just over the broken end and perhaps cover the cavity entrance with brash? Or cover the cavity with ply as well (with the hole drilled into it)?

Possibly a random question.

In one of our parks I noticed that a Beech had recently shed a large section. The remaining stem is to be monolithed, but the fallen section has a colony of honey bees which I am concerned that if left near the ground, will be vandalised/predated etc.

Notwithstanding the prospect of being stung, we were talking about the possibility of resurrecting the fallen limb against the monolithed stem, but it would mean that the hive would be inverted as it was right near the union.

Do bee hives have an upside-down? Will they otherwise re-locate this time of year?

At this stage we are not sure whether to leave it alone, or try intervene if it will improve the situation for the bees.

I may well drop a line to a local beekeeper on Monday, but thought I'd ask if anyone had experience of this kind of thing?

Interesting stuff. I'd not heard of this but have just downloaded some bits to read through.

And I'm loving the new job Nick thank you. I hope all is good in Harrow

Hi Twigger,

If I'm being honest, there has been the rare occasion that I have felt a little vulnerable when out inspecting trees in certain areas, especially when using the tablet, but I always, always let someone know where I'll be and when I'll be back. For me, I find that making myself extra visible (hi-viz, ID badge etc) and being confident in how I speak with people puts me at ease

If I was ever removing trees alone (eg: in domestic gardens when the client was out), I had someone nearby who knew exactly where I was and I would ring them at regular intervals. This is not ideal I know, but my really point is to be in regular contact with someone who knows exactly where you are and when you'll be back.

I take responsibility for my own safety and if I'm not happy with a situation, I don't put myself at risk, no job is worth that. In my personal experience however, it's been the guys who seem to be the target for the majority of any abuse.

I hope this is helpful - Sal

My 130 had a back from KMR too. Found them to be good quality and very reasonable.

Just 3 weeks left til the Great North Run. Did 11 miles today and the new trainers have made all the difference!

Going into my second year with this course in Sept. Will be interested to see who the new tutor will be.

I didn't qualify for help with Student Finance but it may be worth a look to see if you're eligible:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-online-for-student-finance

I think it may have changed a bit this academic year.

Apologies if this has an obvious answer or has been covered before, but my question comes from things I've heard over the last couple of days.

I had already read a paper on 'Natural infection of Fraxinus excelsior seeds by Chalara fraxinea' which suggested that 'It is possible that the development of C.fraxinea may be less successful when subjected to competition from other fungal communities'.

I know that the above was talking about seeds but at Knepp on Weds, Lynne Boddy spoke about fungi essentially 'fighting for supremacy' within the tree and then on Thurs at Ashstead, Vickki Bengtsson touched on how veteran trees may take longer to suffer from C.fraxinea.

My question then (finally) is whether veteran/older Ash trees may already be colonized by a fungi which is in turn offering some kind of delay/protection from the Chalara?

If anyone can point me in the direction of further papers it'd be much appreciated

A friend's MS260, MS180, Hedge trimmer (HL75) & Backpack Blower (BR600) plus assorted power tools etc stolen overnight from the Lacey Green area, Buckinghamshire.

I don't keep my kit here anymore, but I know the chap who owns the place very well, and it's the same address that my Land Rover 130 Tipper was stolen from (2 yrs ago almost to the day).

Just as a heads up to anyone else local really.

Cheers.

Done.

Thank you.

Have emailed booking form twice for Wycombe but no confirmation yet. Am I just being impatient? It's just that I know that someone else sent their form later and had a place confirmed and I don't want to miss out. Cheers:001_smile:

First photo's not amazing but this was my first attempt at using a combination of natural fracture techniques and target pruning on a Goat Willow. By using tear cuts/coronet cuts the hope is to stimulate new growth on the retained branch.

Planning a few long weekends/short trips in the UK this year, starting with the Lake District in March, then maybe Glastonbury/Wells.

It's been a while since I went, but if you're heading to Lanzarote 'Jameos del Agua' and 'El Diablo' (restaurant on a volcano) are well worth a look

I think technically we may have been trespassing (slight deviation from the footpath), otherwise I'd have nominated this one

Brilliant! I'm not an AA member (yet) but I know a man who is so hopefully he'll let me have a quick read. Thanks

Brilliant, thanks. I've found the preview on Google books so will take a look (although it looks like there is a paperback copy on Amazon for under £10 so may just buy it).

Cheers

I've found a couple more bits about traditional tools/techniques the first being:

"Cut branches 1- 2ft (30- 60cm) from the body of the tree with a one handed axe, making sure that the bark is not damaged. Do not cut in sap time nor when the wind is in the north or east." (Fitzherbert 1523).

Which refers to a one-handed axe which I assumed to just mean a smaller axe/hatchet.

The other was this:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zitG7f-HjgI&feature=player_detailpage]Starting new pollards the basque way - YouTube[/ame]

Are there any good historical references for tree management that anyone could recommend? I'm just starting to plod through this publication and I see there are some references in appendix 3:

publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/114002

Cheers

Thanks for the link to your thread. Incredible! I'll have to take a longer look at some of those photos.

I'll be interested to read the results if they are published at a later date so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Been getting around a few interesting sites recently (Ashstead Common & Hatfield Forest) but I think a trip to the Basque region may have to be considered now too!

Silky, it's been good to get the chance over Christmas to read through the (many) articles I seem to save up!

Recently read this article:

http://frontpage.woodland-trust.org.uk/ancient-tree-forum/atfinternational/spain/pdf/AncientPollards.pdf

"These trees will be re-inspected in 2009 to work out whether there is any difference in the trees reaction to the different pruning techniques.

Some trees were also pruned with both axe and chainsaw."

Does anyone know if the trees were re-inspected/what the results were and whether they were documented anywhere?

Cheers