sloth

Two pirates met in a bar, one with a peg leg, eye patch and a hook for a hand. "Argh matey, what happened to you?!" said the first. "Our ship was attacked, and a fella with a cutlass chopped me hand off. " "Nasty. And yer leg?" "I went overboard and a shark ate it." "Bad luck that matey. And yer eye?" "A seagull shat in it." "But that don't blind ya!" "True dat, but it was me first day with the hook! "

So it is, bloody small phone screen....

Looks like the back cut almost finished, then the tree sat back and pinched the bar. Dunno where the chains gone though!

Come on Steve, you shouldn't be a troll on your own forum!

Heh heh! Fantastic! Any idea how long it has been in? How was the canopy doing?

Yes it has! It's second hand info so I can't vouch for the accuracy of it, but I'm led to believe there are bats roosting in this (now unused) building and the scaffolding is to protect the roof tiles from further damage (from this tree or others) while they wait for this tree to be removed. When this tree, and the other few dead/unstable ones around the building are dealt with, I think the plan is to then make good the building. The site is overseen by a very eco aware company, who seem quite keen on bats (amongst many other things), possibly as their sites contain many old dilapidated buildings/niche habitats etc away from public access and so fairly undisturbed the majority of the time.

Hmm, ok... I really don't know! Did you clear away surface debris to uncover it? I wonder if it is a dense matt of mycelium, rather than a fruiting body of any sort. Where's Mr Humphries when he's needed?!

What sort of texture was it?

Silver birch that went over with a gentle push from Doris. The spongy Armillaria riddled roots probably didn't do much to keep it upright either. Typically every other big dead birch around the building is heavily decayed by Piptoporus, and would likely have just shattered on impact, but not this one...

I stand happily corrected, cheers David...

To eradicate fungi from a garden? Remove all organic matter, dead or alive! I think it would be a losing battle, and yes read up on the benefits of fungi to the health of other plants/soil...

Superb reply, brought a smile to my face! Yes, Geastrum/earthstar of some sort....

Agreed! Waste of money, and potentially harmful to your business. I know many women (and straight men) who would intentionally not use your services based on that video alone...

Awesome, and not at all what I expected to see from the title...

That's quite a bit of fruiting, soon for the chop I guess. Kveld, I've seen it on S aucuparia, if you're interested...

Nothing a bit of Tcut won't sort out...

I thought that was a dude! On closer inspection, I'll let you off!

Bugger. Hope you're OK and can sort the damage out... ... Think of the Frankinsteinesque possibilities!

No worries...

Tee hee, brilliant!

See previous couple of posts...

Interesting, cheers for the link. I wonder what uncomfortable truths may emerge....

Well there was your warning then! Not that all dead branches are liable to fail imminently, decay type and tree species counts too. As for books, principles of tree hazard assessment and management is a very good one, and now being printed by the AA I think, after being out of print for a while. I think the ISA have a tree hazard awareness book of some kind too, but I haven't seen it...

Or a full can of spray paint, bloody railway work! But I think Bolam wins...

Kind of Huck, but it has a bit more significance than that, losing nearly 150 affordable camping pitches to create 19 cabins. It will make this beautiful place less accessible to the masses, and alter the character and atmosphere of the place, which really has been its charm. Plenty of campers/families mingling with the locals in the pubs and hiking with their dogs etc, will instead become small numbers of 'better off', who may well just stay in the on site bar of an evening. So in terms of revenue, I don't think it will filter down into the local businesses so much. To save rewriting this is copy/pasted from the link - Beddgelert Forest Campsite is set within the glorious mountain scenery of Snowdonia and is in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park. It has been providing outdoor lovers with an opportunity to enjoy the area since the 1930’s. That may now be about to change…. Forest Holidays (a joint venture between the Forestry Commission and the private equity firm LDC) have submitted a planning application to Snowdonia National Park, proposing the redevelopment of the site. The proposal will result in the loss of 75% of the existing camping pitches (from 195 down to 55) and the creation of 25 permanent timber houses. The redeveloped site will also offer onsite hot snacks, breakfasts, coffee and bar facilities. Since 2013, over 1000 camping pitches have been lost at Forest Holiday locations throughout the UK. Whilst this may benefit the small number of people able to afford up to £4395/week cost to stay there, the vast majority of visitors to the Beddgelert site will lose a facility that has provided all-year round, low cost accommodation for nearly 80 years. The community of Beddgelert is largely dependent on tourism and this will have a significant impact on the village. Our concerns are that this is likely to lead to: • A loss of affordable and accessible camping within the Snowdonia National Park • A detrimental social and economic impact for the community of Beddgelert. UPDATE 28-Feb: Please note that Snowdonia National Park have delayed consideration of the proposal until 5-April. In addition, we have learned that Forest Holidays have submitted two major changes to the proposal in the last few days: 1. The proposed number of cabins has been reduced from 25 to 19. 2. They no longer plan to drain the hot tubs directly to the forest floor, but will now install an additional treatment works to process the foul water. There will still be a reduction in the number of camping and caravan pitches so the potential impact to visitors doesn't change - if you want to stay in Beddgelert Forest campsite outside of the winter months, do it soon - or object, object, object (go to http://goo.gl/fK6OsF and "Comment on this application") !