10 Bears

Hello Paul, Its just some light reading on Wagener, t/R etc. Although not a Picus, may help give insights in key situations where without other means, you can still get some reasonable insights instead of condemning another tree to becoming firewood. I can post it on here too, but this may become a major derail, so perhaps another thread...

I absolutely agree with this point Gary - often far too much felling is done just to be on the safe side and is often completely unnecessary. I don't have a spare £20K to buy you a picus, but I may have some information that you could use. I will PM you over the weekend.

So... I'm not sure who wins the game, but I think we both deserve a prize for playing, Stubby!

Distribution Network Operator

No - that Owl is normal. He just uses a reach toothbrush... [ame] [/ame]

I'm not UA qualified, but these look generally like ABC which could potentially be carrying up to 33Kv. The sheaths can degrade or puncture, and then there is potentially an outlet for the voltage. I would think the 2' proximity you are looking at is far too close, as I think the buffer zone is more in the order of 3m but I will stand corrected by those more in the know. My feeling is to say no to the job or only do it with a full shut down, but as I say this is not my area of expertise.

Ha - of course, you are right. Hmm, still cant spot it then. I think this game should be a feature in the Arb Journal or Essential Arb ie an equivalent spot the ball game for chainsaw operators...

Nope - lower exhaust port...

On average, there is a 3% annual return on investment assuming steady land prices and no over inflation in the timber market, and low/no inflation in the economy as we are experiencing currently. As stated above, the woodland investment attracts no income tax, capital gains on growing crops and offers 100% relief on inheritance tax. The (perhaps) simplistic view is that there is a likely 3% increase on investment, plus roughly a 2.5% inflation hedge (ie the difference between expected asset increase and interest rates), leads to broadly 5.5% tax free. This would be equivalent to an 11% return on normal taxable income, so with a clever tax arrangement where the owner also invests in a low correlation UK asset class e.g. property, they will receive a good return on their investment. The only issue is that the investments are long term and ultimately to receive the investment reward, the woodland would have to be sold at some point in the future. So, it will pay to keep the woodland if the owner can also invest in other sectors and offset tax liabilities, then sell the woodland at a later date.

This is an urban myth I'm afraid - there is no legal justification for this view. I had a conversation with a lawyer about this and the opinion given was that the owner of the tree who installed the bracing is not admitting guilt/liability to acknowledging there is a problem in the tree, they would simply be exercising proper duty of care to visitors to their site, and that by having active management in place, using an industry recognised technique, would be perfectly defensible. He further suggested an analogy of wearing seat belts in cars. Suggesting that using the same logic all car manufacturers would be 'liable' of anyone getting injured in a crash - because they put seat belts there so they must know that driving a car is dangerous, yet they still encourage people to drive their cars... I agree with your comments on not bracing in high target/high occupancy areas, though this should be decided on the basis of suitable management for the situation - not because of an unfounded fear of liability.

Thanks everyone for the replies and PMs. I will get on to the client this morning, to clarify matters. Out of interest, I have attached pictures of the stumps. They are both both 55cm wide, one is 48cm high and the other is 57cm high. Both could easily be ringed with a saw to make them lower before grinding - I just ran out of time to do this on Saturday as the development team forgot to mention the site closes at 14:00 before I got there. If this is needed, I will do this on the day of the grinding to make it easier to grind out. The stumps are in a raised bed behind a fence line. The fence panels/nearest posts will be removed to allow access. All steels/baskets/Heras fence etc. in front of the stumps will of course be moved by the developers before grinding commences. NOTE: There is cabling and ducting at the bottom of the Heras fence in one of the pictures, will this pose a problem? Thanks again to all who offered help.

Yes Stefan, I think it just might be too far! (Just checked where Darvel is...)

Thanks for the tip, Grand.

Hello All, I have been working with a client on another project and I am expected to be on site tomorrow. I have received an email today basically saying - "as you are the tree chappie, will you take a look at a stump we need grinding out next week". The thing is, I don't do stump grinding... I will take a look at it tomorrow and if it is not too big, I will just take it on with a hire machine. However, if its a bit of a monster and needs a professional, I would like to sub one of you chaps in. The stump is not too far from JCN 5 of the M60. So, anyone who may be interested in subbing this, please write your names on a postcard and send them to... hold on a minute, just PM me. Thanks in advance! 10 Bears.

Ha - it was my attempt at a Tawny! (I am suffering a serious bout of procrastination at the moment...) Its definitely on sycamores and I think a couple of beech, possibly a hornbeam too. I'm not planning to be around there for a while, but I will try to remember and get the pictures when I'm next there.

An observation I have made in Kendal, is that the base of a lot of the trees lining a pathway next to the river Kent are deformed, but all on the same side of the path. I have always put this down to the fact that this side of the tree is obviously where dog walkers will let their dogs urinate, and due to who knows what is in the urine - the deformity occurs over time. I have attached a little diagram to show what I mean regarding the deformity. Next time I am in the area, I will try to get a picture.

How about getting something like these: [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/60-Litre-airtight-storage-container/dp/B00AF5GVHQ]60 Litre airtight storage container: Amazon.co.uk: Garden & Outdoors@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41uzZ2odeNL.@@AMEPARAM@@41uzZ2odeNL[/ame] Ratchet strapped down. Perhaps available in bigger sizes?

Well, some people just need to be told! I drew up some plans for my 'shrub' house and have attached them for your viewing pleasure. To be honest, its really more of a stilt house as it straddles a low fork in a cherry, is not fully secured in the tree and is on sloping ground so it will have the appearance of being higher than it really is. These were the plans that I sent to my LPA to make sure I was OK, and they said there would be no need for building regs as it is not a permanent dwelling and not intended for inhabitation. Interestingly, they also said that they had never even had an enquiry about planning/building regs for tree houses before and it certainly took them some time to get back to me as no-one really knew the answer immediately. I got the impression that tree houses only fall foul of planning when they are monstrous builds, over the usual permitted development/outbuilding specification. The other issue I would think, would be local interpretation of the planning regs, which does seem to differ region to region. So, getting the local TO/PO involved at some point would be beneficial. D-Size Layout.pdf

Thanks for this Jules - mentioning those cases is a useful aide memoir to help me with something I am writing at the moment...

Not necessarily definitely requiring planning - just depends on how you go about it. I am part way through a build of a tree house for my kids, and despite formerly good relationships with my neighbours, the tree house seems to have caused them some disquiet. I shan't give all the gory details, but there was a 'meeting' at my house where it turns out that my neighbour doesn't like to be looked at by my children! As such, she threatened reporting me to planning etc. unless I cease building the tree house immediately. So, I did what any reasonable person would do, I told her to stop being so ruddy stupid and to have a rethink about coming round to my house to tell me what I can and can't do in my own garden! Anyhow, back to the point. I followed all this up with the local planning office and have emails confirming this information. Basically, yes it would be a structure over 300mm above ground, which under the new regs would normally would require planning permission - but as long as the tree house ridge (if it has a roof) does not exceed 4m and the eaves are not above 2.5m, then it is an outbuilding and not subject to full planning. The guidance is here: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/miniguides/outbuildings/Outbuildings.pdf

The benchmark was referred to as an unskilled labour wage, which is typically what MW is. He may be a sub, but he's is dragging brash/feeding the chipper, not operating saws so PPE requirements are minimal ie hard hat/defenders, boots and gloves. He would have already laid out these expenses in his other business, so essentially they are written off and he has recovered these costs through off-set tax deduction. I presume he is wearing personal clothes and not a uniform, so maybe he has some costs there, but not enough to justify the current wage he is on let alone the 25% increase. So, all in, yes I think he is doing the work of someone that could do it on MW - so a fair comparison IMO.

My first thoughts are - what a load of nonsense! Its not a laser hypsometer, its simply a red laser light, like a laser pointer. The whole idea is flawed as for one, red laser is very difficult to see outside, you need a green laser, but it may be too difficult to market a class 3 laser for this purpose, and secondly, you still need a logging tape to set the distance/angle of the laser when cross cutting! Why Stihl think you would not just keep your tape on the log and mark up or cut as you go at different lengths? Also, when you need to change lengths, from say 1.9m to 2.5m, you will have to get the tape out again to reset the laser distance/angle! Useless piece of tat IMO!

An example from the web: http://sncforestry.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/quality_policy2016.pdf

No surely not - just an off day. To put your mind at ease, I've been trying to get my head around a particular problem for 2 weeks now. All the parts of the solution are there... but I just can't get the pieces to fit so to speak. I have literally worked on nothing else for the 2 weeks and still no joy. So, that is really being slow on the uptake!

Oh no - that's not good. Never mind, I will let them know.