10 Bears

Question to the OP - what are you trying to do? Is accuracy an issue or are you just looking for approximations? I have information on several systems/techniques that may be of use depending on your needs.

I would have gone meripilus giganteus too.

I admit you got me there fair enough. It turned into an interesting side debate in any case - so good effort for calling me out!

Drey poking is a specific shooting activity. If you refer to the text below from Tornados who made the comment: hence I was referring to: So yes, my comments were accurate and in the context of meaning. Well, it wouldn't, but inaccurate shooting at the stem and branches as the squirrel runs certainly would cause damage. True, but as someone who works in the tree industry, my interest is to protect trees where I can and not advise activities to the contrary. Anecdotally, I have been on site while Drey poking was taking place, and I can assure you that it does cause damage to trees.

Thats a link to the same image as before. Is there something else you wanted me to see?

You have a very complex structure there. There are several tonal and textural differences, so I could pick out perhaps 6/7 different classifications (not sure of species from this image, just 6/7 types that look different from one another). So, this is where the ground truthing that I advised comes in to play. You need to go to the woodland, perhaps just the woodland edge in 2 or 3 different locations, and mark down on a copy of this image which are Oaks. Then with a bit of time, and using your ground truthed Oaks to refer back to, you can go through the image trying to identify which canopies have a similarity - thus identifying your Oaks from the image. There may be a programmatic way to achieve this, involving some high end software. Let me first find out if this is possible before I can say anymore. In the meantime, I feel a trip to the woods is on your cards...

Sorry, your image hasn't displayed. Can you try again?

Just for interest - unless I am taking this off topic: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/PDF/UKRSG%20fcpn004%20gs%20control.pdf See page 5, 2nd paragraph.

Very clever Mr. Bolam. I see your signature is accurate. Obviously I am referring to the general practice of drey poking which is not considered an acceptable form of squirrel management anymore for the reasons stated.

Adam, that doesn't make... Oh hang on a minute. Suggesting Google Earth/Maps is actually a decent idea if getting around the site to collect the field data is problematic. I would go to site and spot the locations of a couple of very obvious Oaks, in locations that cannot be anything else. Then you will be able to look through the image knowing exactly what a confirmed couple of Oaks looks like from above (they have a particular tone of green that you will use to distinguish them from other trees) Open your Google Earth/Maps and follow the screen dump procedure Adam advises above, but if you want to make a decent map, you need the next step. Go online and download QGIS. Its an open source GIS with many online tutorials that you can use to guide you. You will then be able to upload the screen dump (to scale would be best, so you would need to know the length of a boundary fence line for example then calculate the scale of the image), then once it is georeferenced into QGIS, you will be able to plot markers over the tops of the Oak locations, which if your scale is right, will provide accurate co-ordinates of the trees and subsequently you can create an accurate map - mainly from the office. Then, it depends on how much time you want spend on this. You could go on to make a geodatabase that will, for example, display data about each tree such as tree ID (T1, T2 etc.), DBH, height etc whatever you want to put in to the schedule for each tree. So, this way, not so much field work but you can still end up with an accurate piece of work. Best of luck with it.

Not anymore - Drey poking then blasting with a shotgun (I'm assuming that's what you are suggesting here?) is now considered bad practice due to the amount of damage that occurs to the tree that you are trying to protect by taking out the squirrels. You may of course be talking about a rapid shot air rifle or similar, so I would stand corrected in that case.

I have a spreadsheet for working out actual running costs based on a variety of factors including insurance costs, depreciation, interest on capital investment etc. These are all factored in to a cost per mile so you can be sure you are paying the right rate. It works best if you have some information on your actual running cost in the last year eg monthly breakdown on repairs, fuel, ancillary bits (screen wash) etc. Its not on the PC I'm working on right now, so I'll try to remember to post it tonight (if not someone remind me with a post to this thread!)...

I know dairy farmers often use a lot of sawdust for in the sheds, but I believe this may be treated? Perhaps you could supply the supplier?

Triangulation and resighting is one method, but is susceptible to repeated errors that will throw out tree locations significantly, particularly the further you get away from the source error when plotting. You could use chain and offset method which would be more accurate, particularly for smaller areas, but its quite tedious to apply over a large area and will take a lot of hours in the field to complete. Then again you could design a network of ground control points eg semi-permanent wooden stakes, locate these with accuracy using whatever method, and take offset measurements to the trees from them. There are other suggestions I could make - but this would be easier if I had more information from you. As follows: - How big is the woodland area? - Can you provide a map/google image? - Roughly how many trees do you plan to plot (if you know)? - How competent are you with topographic surveying? - Do you have much GIS experience? I take your comment about software that you don't currently have any GIS software to use, but i'll just make the point that mapping software is simply that ie it makes maps - its not necessarily a GIS. Ultimately, you still have to go out in the field and collect the base data to feed into the software somehow. So, if you give a bit more information, I should be able to give you a solution here.

No it wouldn't. Why would you want to do this, other then to illegally kill someone else's tree?

I've just had a customer get back to me this week, after our initial contact in mid-may. She wanted consultancy/project management of quite an awkward situation, I confirmed in writing what I can do and I expected some documentation back from her eg contractual agreement/purchase order/other documents she has pertinent to the job. I heard nothing, so followed up in the second week of June - still no return calls, mail or email, so I gave up as a lost cause. However, she got on the phone on Friday pretty much asking what I was playing at and how far along are we with the job? When I reminded her that she had gone to ground and I hadn't received a PO or the other docs and she just made up some rubbish about thinking that I must have gone on holiday as this happens at this time of year! I just wish she told the truth and admitted she put it to one side to think on, or even just forgot, rather then wasting everyone's time with a cock and bull story...

Regarding the grounds team, apologies as I made the presumption that this was a housing association residence or similar. Possibly just due to the fact that you said this was a shared garden and I made the wrong assumption in this regard. The rest of my information regarding requiring everyone's agreeance/permission would still stand though ie if all tenants are shared legal owners of the trees, then they all have a right to say what they do or do not want to happen to the trees. If what I have read about a Property Factor is correct, then yes they should be involved in this as the issue is a day to day maintenance one, and I read they are traditionally involved in arranging owners meetings. Being south of the border, I don't have experience of this so perhaps you or others have better information in this regard. It sounds like you are being given poor information from your council officer to be honest. To encourage you to not seek professional help in a situation that may need some additional insight is not ideal, never mind ignoring the mistruth they are encouraging you to state in your letter. To be fair, any TO worth their salt will just look past the typical, 'the trees are blocking the light and undermining the house' comments and make a judgement within the realms of legislation and local amenity value. This is why I suggested you arrange a pre-application meeting with the TO to try to put across your views in a more personal manner. If the TO hears your plight while standing in a heavily shaded garden at 12 noon on a summers day - they may be more inclined to look on your situation more favorably. Jules has been mentioned as a consultant in your area (Dalton Tree Solutions), and I believe he will be able to advise you about your situation locally. You will have to get all residents permissions/agreement as I said earlier, so perhaps you can get this in hand, but if I were in your situation, I would also seek professional assistance with this in order to try to get the resolution that is more like the one you want.

You're past it. Just give it up and curl up in a corner somewhere. If you don't believe what I have written above, then you can crack on and achieve what you want. Just to get some experience, why not try to help some organisations as BTCV or the National Trust Volunteers? If you turn up with tickets to either of these groups, they will put you to good use straight away and you will readily build up some good experience.

Not a straightforward answer to this, sorry. There are a few things to clear up first. How do you know you are in a CA? Have you confirmed this with your local tree officer at the council? This is worth doing if not done yet as this may all be worry over nothing, but I will answer the rest of the query on the basis that you are definitely in the CA. The shared ownership/tenancy of the garden is the first problem. All owner/occupiers have to be in agreeance with the chosen course of action eg felling etc., as otherwise nothing can be done even if only one person objects as each person has 'rights' in this situation. Just a point - did you mean the garden in the top left of the image? (not top right). Its frustrating, but the argument over limited light in the property is no justification to fell trees unfortunately - particularly if they are protected through TPOs or are in a CA. As a matter of course, trees in a CA are not immediately protected through TPOs, but they are protected by the fact the are situated inside the CA. Subsequently, if the trees become 'under threat' eg as you apply for CA works, then yes they can be secondarily TPO'ed to offer the trees individual protection (or similar). I have seen this all too often - you apply for works under the CA, but then the trees become TPO'ed making life a little more difficult, but not impossible. You can always appeal bad TPO decisions to the secretary of state. The points you want to raise are generally reasonable to a person who lives at the property and wants to get use out of the garden, however, one or two are unfounded in my opinion. Devils advocate comments as below: - limited plants as not enough light to flower ~ Plant shade tolerant ones - roots are a concern to the building structure / foundation ~ Have you proven that you are on shrinkable clay? If not then this worry is unfounded as tree roots will not cause foundation damage unless shrinkable clay is present - concerned over height of them and possible damage to building ~ Just because they are tall, does not mean that they will imminently fall through your roof. You have not stated that they are in contact with the building, so I don't see any other problem here As I said, just being Devils advocate....! I think all in all, your best course of action would be to contact the other residents and get a working group together with the same goal/opinion on what needs to be done. Once you are in agreement, you should then go to your landlord and put your views across as a single voice. This should help win favours with them. After that, I would basically let the grounds team take on the problems with CA applications or similar as they are paid to do so, but you could act as the spearhead for the residents action group and keep this issue to the forefront of their minds. If you could arrange it, a pre-application onsite meeting for all concerned parties eg landlord, grounds team, tree officer etc. may really help with helping the decision makers understand the situation, but this would take a fair bit of arranging. Either way, all the best with this.

Great - houses made from Fir trees, very European for the Black Country...

I tried to arrange my wedding in a woodland about 10 years ago - but it wasn't permitted as at the time you could only get married in licensed venues as stated above. I believe the law has changed again now though - so you may be able to apply for the necessary permits etc. Ask at your local registrar what the state of play is. After that, its just a small matter of helping this couple organise their wedding!

I have dealt with developers that have admitted the very same thing. They knew what they were doing - exactly in the same way that some arborists, including several on here who admit they have done the work, recommend site clearances before planning permission is even put in just as in this case. Hopefully a few more prosecutions like this will prevent further destruction of natural resources, for the sake of development greed.

All the above is correct - there are no tree restrictions regarding AONB status as the designation is primarily a genus loci designation intended to restrict over-development. In my experience though, if the tree work is necessary for a planning application or similar, then the planners/TO will use the AONB designation as part of their argument to say that affected trees contribute to the amenity of the development and as such will require that they are remediated for or possibly protected as a secondary measure.

From the upside down/sidewards view of the cavity - it doesn't look too bad and there does appear to be reaction growth/woody swelling to compensate for the strength loss due to the cavity. You say you cant see the top easily, but if it doesn't have a great deal of crown, it won't have a large sail area to catch the wind, so less likely to fail in that regard also. What I cannot rule out from these pictures is if there is any active fungal colonisation which could lead to brittle failure or similar depending on the fungal species. An easy test for you to decide if you want it out is this: 1. Which way is the trees weight/lean? 2. If the tree failed in that particular direction, what would it land on? 3. Is what it would land on, worthy of protection? So, does it have a particular likely direction should it fail? Most trees don't fail against gravity, but this depends on the strength of the wind/other factors. Will it land on someone's lawn (low potential damage risk) or someone's expensive sports car (high potential damage risk - there may be a person in the car)? I've oversimplified the situation here, but hopefully that will help you decide what to do.

Really? So that's why they put that there. ...! No, fair enough. I haven't actually seen either of these trees in the flesh round these parts, only in the books, so it was always going to be a guess. I'll go back to my corner now with Steve and the others.