Matthew Arnold

We are working in an even more remote place than where i took the pictures tomorrow. It is 30 mins drive (on a good day) from the nearest town (Dorchester) and 45 mins from our base in Blandford. The roads to the site are single track roads with few passing places and high blind banks. Great fun in the winter. Not so much fun when tractors use it on a regular basis. When we did the Autumn check for wasp nests, etc. On the way back we met a combine coming around the corner. Luckily we stopped and shot into a gateway about 20 metres back.

QUOTE=APC;380900]Dogging.

Bit like this one i spose.

Weve got lots n lots of safe hazard beams where the limb has snapped but landed on its much stronger brother below.

Funnily enough i just did a Bats and their relationship with Trees course. And any tree with a defect no matter how low to the ground it is they can still use it as a roost. They can crawl into tiny little gaps between bark and even the splits of a torn limb. We have a couple of trees on our site of which i shall try and get pictures of that are known bat roosts. We have a couple of structures on our sites which are also used by bats.

We leave a 5 metre gap between the lower branches and the fence post becuase we don't want to repair or replace the rails everytime it drops a piece of deadwood or a branch.

Nope. If it is a confirmed roost no work can be done at all. Not even with a crane and a mewp. As there would be too much disturbance.

If we are going to do any work on a tree with a cavity no matter how big or small. We get a little endoscopy camera to check for bats. If there are bats in there we leave the tree to its own devices and put a nice little post and rail fence about 5 metres out from the crown base incase of falling branches.

Leave to do what it like i would say. If it drops a limb or two in strong winds them so be it. It would provide habitat for lots of bats.

I was thinking more of the burring/canker causing bateria that would create spalting. Or the fungi that get into those little cracks and crevices you dont see.

Should be fine. The condensation would be minimal. We store ours in a ventilated shipping container but there is no insulation at all so during the summer it becomes a furnace and during the winter it becomes a bloody tomb.

Rather a nice bit of burring on the snapped limb. Would be good for turning with all the spalting in there.

One of the 5 monuments i am working on this winter. It is called Nettlecombe Tout and is in the "sticks". 30-40 min drive from base to site depending on traffic n weather conditions. Mainly Blackthorn, Hawthorn, Spindle and Field Maple regen all to be brushcut and high stumps reduced. Planning on having massive fire there next week. Got some very fun off roading to do to get to the site. nettlecombe tout work..doc

Ye it is an ass when we advertise it and no sod turns up. We decided to make a morning of it so we went and cleared a blocked culvert as the water was on the verge of coming over the old railway path which is about 4 foot above the base of the ditch.

Im Blandford born and bred. Lived in the town for 21 years so i know the area very well. And all of the little cut through lanes that we have access to as we drive around in marked up council vehicles.

Its better on a clear day with blue skies. We can see 5 counties from a site just round the corner from where we were.

Whilst waiting for volunteers to turn up (none did) we took some pictures of the Blackmore Vale. It was taken at about 10 am just before we left. I've seen the whole vale covered in a vale of mist from Bulbarrow. But i found these particularly atmospheric as you can see the tops of trees just poking above the veil and the top of Duncliffe Wood rising like a mountain above the surrounding floodplains.

We use Glyphosate 360 and 480. The 360 for path edges and the 480 for shrub and tree growth and the old friend Jap Knotweed. We also use a herbicide known as Timbrel. We only use it for Japanese Knotweed even though it says it can kill shrubs and trees. Glyphosate is the "nicest" chemical we use as it is safe to use where pets and children are. And we generally use a 300ml of chemical to 15 litres of water mix with the glyphosate. And the max dosage for timbrel. 250ml chem to 15 litres water

We had an incident on a site i manage. We had told some volunteers working on a station restoration project to leave the trees alone as we would fell them because we are covered under the insurance as we have the tickets. One of the guys there didnt listen and took down 20 trees. Sadly the 20th one was a very heavy leaner and he just cut in from the back. It barbers chaired to about 25 ft high and the tree flung him back 15 ft. He is now in a wheelchair but whats worse is he was trying to sue us for allowing him to do the tree work. Even though we put a massive poster up saying leave marked trees alone for professionals.

Because i work for a council we have the same problems. We had a big argument with a member of the public last year. Why are you felling those trees? What is wrong with them? We are felling them to reduce the lead litter and to prevent the surface being damaged by the leaves and large water drops. Most of the trees are leaning heavily towards the centre of the path. They are squirrel damaged and as they are coppice stools they can become very weak in the base. Ok thats fine. But why are you having a bonfire and not chipping the material?. Its not very environmentally friendly We are having a bonfire as it is the most efficient way of removing the material and it is carbon neutral. If we chipped the material, we would be using diesel to power the chipper. Ok. But can i have the logs? Sorry sir but these logs have been already assigned a home, hence why they are 2 metres long. Well screw you then!! 6 months Later we saw the same man. What a difference you guys have made. You can see lots more wildife and more wildflowers Thank you very much. The surface has recovered very well from not having leaves on it.

We have just been borrowing a TW150 from some colleagues down in West Dorset. Appart from the corroded exhaust top it is absolutely brilliant. Last week i noticed that when we had been putting 2-4 inch thick branches through for 20 minutes or so they would fix at about 2 inches apart. So if we put a 1 inch branch thru it wouldn't grab it. I came up with a solution which my colleagues thought was rather clever. Put a 6 inch piece through so the spring goes to full stretch and then it goes back to normal gap. I have greased the sliders and checked them for gunk but they were clean. It has done approximately 6000 hours. Any ideas what would be causing the slider jam?

When i am down at my mums cousins in Somerset i shall get some pictures of their duel fuel (oil/wood) aga and their 4 foot wide wood burner which runs the central heating. They have the copper piping done throughout the house to take the heat of the smoke flue as it goes through the pipes and heats the rads throughout the house then it escapes out the chimney.

This is gonna sound so damn simple from me but i am simple minded. When water freezes it becomes a solid and thus expands causing the "freeze-thaw" effect. Each time the water freeze it expands the crack further and further until the water reachs a criitcal point freezes and boom the limb drops. But in extreme cold the water inside the trees can also freeze and cause them to become extremely brittle. Yet in periods of drought the trees "retract" their phloem from the surface giving the bark surface on smooth trees a wrinkled appearance. This can also cause a brittle fracture as the water becomes a natural lubricant between the natural fibres. So when there is not sufficient water the cells can crack easy Think of it like a green twig. Freeze it and it snaps easily. Dry it and it snaps easily. But enough moisture and its flexible.

That is low if people are taking other peoples pictures and putting them up as their own work just to make themselves look the dogs danglies in tree surgery.

The pics i put up on here are genuine and i use them in my line for work and i put them up on my facebook page. It sounds a bit dodgy but if ya want my facebook link feel free to ask.