David Humphries

VERY Velcom to zee club, meine bekloppt freund . .

I recieve a whole host of useful but at times useless, items of Tree news, this particular one is from the Arboricultural bulletin from Hort Week. .

Not posting this to stir, for all I know members may or may not be involved. Just thought it may be of interest to some. Developer fined £4,500 for illegal tree works A company that carried out unauthorised work on a garden oak tree protected by a Tree Preservation Order in (xxxxxxxxxxx), has been fined £4,500 following a successful prosecution by (xxxxxxxxxxx) Borough Council. (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company at the hearing at (xxxxxxxxxxxx) Magistrates' Court. The firm was also ordered to pay £2,500 costs. The council employed an arboricultural consultant from (xxxxxxxxxx) to examine the tree. Council landscape officer (xxxxxxxx) said neighbours of the house where the tree was damaged provided evidence "because they felt so aggrieved about the damage caused to the tree". "The defence has said that all the way through these proceedings they only removed a few dead and hollow branches from the tree, but the evidence provided by the neighbours disputes that and, most certainly, the works carried out on the tree were not done in accordance with good arboricultural practice." .

A few bits and pieces dug up in the first week (Crows mainly), but that has settled down now. I believe birds/animals are attracted to the smell of the glue in the cardboard. Not sure on the state the Mulch base, will have a butch on the morrow. .

I'm absolutely outraged ! how dare a new member have the audacity to question my powers of observational I'd...................................... Just kidding Stuart, your questioning is entirely what the forum is here for. Fomes is suposedly relatively rare here in the south, but I keep finding it on species outside the recognised few, Beech, Sycamore, & Birch t'up north. Here's a couple of shots of the brackets on the same Oak as in my earlier thread. Not particularly good shots, but are typically more like your own I suggest. http://www.aie.org.uk/fungi_base/fomes/aie_fungi_a1.html Here's a link to aid further Id. .

Nay worries Pat. Out of interest, did you continue the cardboard up to the white line before laying the mulch? .

Great picture set Stuart. Definately Fomes fomentarius. Tinder/Hoof fungus. It is perenial, hence the annual layers Nice examples We have it on HC in North London. So I would presume the association is not specifically rare. .

Ein frohes Weihnachtsfest und alles Gute zum neuen Jahr! .

Looks good Patrick. Are there any other similar sized Hc's on site with BC, (ie the one opposite) which you can compare each others vitality against next year? .

Well done fellas. Lets get as many of the members as possible involved, and hope we smash last years total. Great cause and great prizes. .

Know exactly where ya comin from, Pat. I've just about managed to keep away from that little web, and still get to go out and play with the fells about 50/50 these days. .

No idea, I'm afraid. Intrigued .

wow Wonder what book they're reading .

Try it again. Reckon the production team must have wet themselves each and every time they set this one up. .

Mr Hancock would invite you to split your sides and enjoy the following....... very funny Vid, think it deserves its own thread......... http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/8/Watch-out-the-tree-is-falling-554501.html .

Hi Pat, always wondered why you move on. Lack of progression, Change of regime, or just ready to go it alone? Epping must of provided you with a huge range of variety in terms of tree work. Great site. David

Smooth my good man. My current tipple is Tripple Distilled 21 yr Auchentoshan. The very best Lowland single I've ever quaffed Mmmmmmnnnnnnnnnn indeed .

Older Trees 50 yrs + probably had a far better growing/establishment environment. Less compaction, less trenching. Which may lead to the younger generation unable to dynamically develop and end up spending all their energy photosynthesising just to survive at the expence of decay/damage repair. .

Sorry Gay, total egotiscalisation goin on, Me very bad. We're WT members, lads got trees dedicated when christened, As the planned new national wood (HEARTWOOD FOREST) near St Albans is literally just up the road, I fully intend to get the little fellas signed up to the planting, watching and maintaing of this national Gem .

Appologies for aiding the digression..... what did you think of the Coen boys take on Cormac Mcarthys' NCFOM, J ? I thought Javier Bardens portrayal of the psychopathic Chigura was nothing more than spine chilling. Watched the film last night, along with Fargo were talking two of my all time top ten here. .

Tree has lost a couple of limbs to decay/wind damage. Ther are no fb's on this trees limbs, and I've never personally seen Fomes on branches before, pretty sure the decay is confined mainly to the body of the trunks. Until I decide to dismantle what ever proportion of the tree that is going to be coming down (fell/reduction), then knowing the extent of decay is purely based upon a combination of fungal Id, sound of timber density or the further investigation route ie, digital micro drill/resistograph, picus tomograph or in this situation a free case study by Marcus or Andrew with the Thermal Imager would be a very nice holistic approach to getting a good picture of the trees overall decay progression. Many on here will tell you (once they'd visited the tree themselves, that is) that this tree is probably still very climable, and it may well be. In some circumstances we ourselves might even climb and reduce it, But with this particular tree, knowing the history as I do and having access to the site plus having a MEWP, then the site specific R/A hirearchy will inform my choice here. Nelly will get a little run out. I'll probably post a picture or two Assessment of your targets is always the critical part of any equation when it comes to tree retention/fells. .

Amazing. Was there an occluded wound at the point where the trunk appears to grow sidewards? If so, then I'm guessing that this is a side branch that's become the leader and headed Phototropically lightwards. Or maybe a genetic malfunction caused by gawd knows what .

Right Firm, wrong location. I know some of the lads at Epping, but I'm based at north London Open Spaces. Hampstead Heath & Highgate woods to be exact. Leagues ahead of the "other" open space sites Having said all that, we were working around the veteran pollards over at Burnham Beeches a few weeks back, and are set for a return gig in Jan. .

Tinder / Hoof fungus Usually hosted on Beech, Poplar, Birch further up north. But here on Oak. This tree has had these perenial fruit bodies around the stem @ heights varying from 6 - 12 m for a number of years. This week I've noticed these new Fb's @ approx 1 -2 m height on the same sides as the upper mature brackets. Which atm, I'm presuming to be newly developing Fomes, indicating that the decay has spread down the trunk. (If they happen to turn into something else, I'll let ya'll know) The decay commonly extends in to a tree via wounding into the sapwood and/or exposed heartwood and is a simultaneous white rot. This can (but hasn't yet after approx 10 yrs) lead to brittle fracture. Will now change the mo on this tree and reduce to a Monnard. Pictures of type and extent of decay to be posted in the new year. Will also carry out a Dmp on the basal decay. Ftr, as decay appeared originally in the top half of the tree, targets not considered to be at risk. Now the decay has spread to base of the tree, risk & hazard are now deemed to be significantly higher, as failure at base brings target into falling zone. .

Took John Tucker, Director for the Woodland Trust ( England) around our site on Wednesday. We had a good banter on shared Woodland and Tree Management principals. Tree Risk zoning, Dead wood habitat etc....... He seemed very impressed with the site, and wants to base one of their quarterly management meetings here next year. Thoroughly decent fella, plus anyone who surfs into their fifties gets my vote:thumbup1: .