Treeation

Or you can carefully climb up and have a feel or look inside the nest for eggs/chicks rather than shaking them out!

Laswons cypress potentially

Norway maple, it ruddy has to be!

Definitely kretz

Ditto grey squirrel damage very common in sycamore. Not a huge amount you can do - controlling squirrel populations will help to reduce future damage. If falling branches are at risk if hurting people of property - get a tree surgeon to aerially inspect and to reduce the end of weight of severely damaged branches which will help to reduce the risk of further failures.

Hi, I am based in Gloucestershire and I undertake tree condition surveys, If you do need a tree condition survey to add some clarity I would be happy to help, Just PM me. Regards Patrick

You could take a slice off the top a few inches down where down to where stump and stem meet but not sure that will achieve much. Id personally leave it, there's central decay in the leaning stem resting on the stump and the stump looks like its adding some potential support....messing about anymore could add further issues down the road.

Ah well, probably more of a case for shoveholer and scully!

Firstly, assess the tree for further defects/features and general health, if the tree is already heavily in decline then I would suggest you could prescribe a "remove to ground level" given its in high occupancy area location poor health and presence of decay fungi in a structurally important part of the tree. It would probably be ok to climb but I imagine that would be more down to the contractors own preference based on their expertise. If you wanted to go belts n braces on fungi id you could suggest taking a sample and sending off to Forestry research for an accurate Id (more of a model answer for purposes of assessment than a realworld answer) but it does defo look like one of the Ganoderma If still in good health - then you could specify the use of further specialist decay investigation techniques - resistograph or picus to assess the amount of sound wood left then a recommendation could be made whether its safe to retain (maybe refer to Matteck's T/ratio as a guide for safety). Also, a conclusion on the type of rot and significance would help to justify your recomendations along with a work priority i.e fell to ground level within 3 months etc...

Really, really tragic news and no one takes the loss of trees as a serious matter... Id be hedging my bets to call in the special branch to mole this one over

I think there should also be general info on tolerance to pruning, as Jamie said before, timing of pruning, guidance on which pruning methods might be inappropriate for mature specimens etc...This is a great opportunity to improve the tree biology knowledge side of things (which sadly is lacked in our industry) to so should be included.

Great idea Steve, id be up for helping in anyway I can

Ive also thought for the same for a while now and have made suggestion to the Arb ass, I'm actually still quite amazed the arb association haven't produced such a manual....seems like absolute no brainer and essential information for arborists that would improve our safety margins and hugely improve our level of tree care.

Looks more like osyter mushroom Pluerotus ostreatus & Phytophthora kernoviae I reckon

Id say best off hourly rate, Some wood will split very easily so you can get a large volume quickly, other, snarly old lumps you could be swinging your axe til the cows come home and you'd have one dissapointed son if he was charging from volume output.....as time goes on and he gets to know what will split easy and what wont then you might do it on fixed price but always a bit more risky.... As for the oak...depends how longs its been down, the longer - the harder to split....depends on what the wood is like....is it clean knot free (easier) or snarly twisted chunks with side branches which aren't worth attempting with a maul...really need a proper machine splitter for them...

Sounds like your on the right tracks with using tractors and ratchet straps, Presuming you know your 3 basic felling cuts to for back leaners, fwd leaners and straight fells..... As said before leave buttressess to your advantage to add strength when needed, You can leave adequate hingewood %by leaving wider hinges to make up for loss of rotten/hollow central wood. You can use a sounding mallet to build up a picture of what's going on inside the wood as part of your planning and prep work.... The suggestion of learning rot types is a good one, although I know characteristics of the different types must admit I treat a felling situation with them in the same way (with extra caution and extra planning) would be intrigued to hear how others plan their work with this in mind, which also leads to suggesting if you are mainly dealing with oak you could learn to identify the main decay fungi that affect the trunks/roots etc...Ganoderma, honey fungus, beefsteak, psuedoinnotus, chicken of woods etc...and some basic Claus Mattheck Body language of trees will help you to decypher a bit more about where the strength in the wood lies and all helps to build up the bigger picture.

Looks amazing, basically pollarding. Would be challenge to fell those lovely construction grade poles without smashing them to bits!

BTW, I think we sat next to each other doing level 4 with treelife 2016!!? Its Pat, if you wana give me a ring to talk over any of the PTI stuff, Pm me, I might also have a copy of the course notes to give you a head start.

Hard to see from the photos, but from what I can see I imagine around £500 to fell and remove green waste from site. The a few hundred to either grub out stumps with mini digger or get a stump grinder in so you should get everything done for sub £1K

With your experience and knowledge level I think you would be fine...just make sure you do some revision before on decay fungi/rot types, body language of trees and different decay equipment......theres a bit on law but that's easy enough to learn on the course. You can always do the intermediate tree inspection course to get you ready also, but you should be fine

Potentially is it at risk of collapsing onto your nieghbour's property so the risk is high and without spending hundreds on root investigations its impossible to really know whether it can stand for 6months or 6 years. This is quite serious! Trees with large masses of Meripilus have a high incidence of uprooting. Your landlord MUST make the next step contact arborist for further discussion (within the next month) who will come and view the tree. Id be surprised if any arborist recommended anything other than Fell, given the context of the tree and the size, and the amount of fungi present. If your landlord wants to go down the line of a potential root decay survey and a long term monitoring plan, then they should contact a decent arboricultural consultant.

There just eating the deadwood, they arent parasitic so can be left

Looks like turkey tail fungus

Yes its Meripilus giganteus. Looks like a severe case as fruiting bodies all around rootplate and root collar. The fungi will be decaying the root system causing potential windthrow (failure of tree at roots) as the roots become weaker. The severity of in this case is high, although without seeing the tree in context (any chance of photos from a distance?) and seeing what it may hit when it fails its impossible to know exactly how much risk is being imposed and if the tree is very squat the chances of windthrow will be less. Fell will most likely be most arbs advice at this stage or if the tree is particularly valued get a arb consultant into see if a tree maintanance plan can be formulated to reduce the risk.

Sounds like you have done a lot to try and reduce the risk of failure and associated damage - Felling 30 trees with minor defects sounds excessive but obviously I have know idea of the site of real context, what I would say, as the case in England would be anyway, is legally speaking it is your duty of care to take reasonable measures to ensure people and property will not come to harm. This is best done in my opinion by using a qualified tree surveyor who can prove their competence if a case ever ended up in court. The problem with using tree surgeons for advice is their can be a huge range level of knowledge - from barely knowing what tree they might be climbing upto consulting level, on top of that there might be a conflict of interests and agenda to win more work etc....Id say if you want to protect yourself to the highest degree I would be hiring a decent independent tree surveyor who has the Professional Tree inspection qual (PTI) and insurance to give arb advice and is capable of producing a decent tree report. The tree surveyor would advice on an inspection regime that would be likely every 18-36months...it might well have saved you a fair few quid and a few trees if you had got a surveyor in before any work took place but hindsight is wonderful thing.