Adam M

Meet Josephine, three times international tree climbing champion (From Bournemouth Echo) Not a single comment on the normal page.

Fell. Wouldn't even bother with a monolith. Leave the stump though for habitat.

+1 for Turkish hazel. Had one at my last place.

Can't fully make out as on phone, but perhaps thin the end of the branch out to preserve the form and reduce the weight?

Tell him to chuck some penicillin in with the kindling before putting the infected wood on the fire. Job's a goodn.

Hi, Around 3 years ago a huge veteran oak was halo'ed on one of the local commons. There is now about 4 foot of brambles underneath it the entire crown. The tree does not appear to be responding well with short extension growth and not especially great retrenchment growth. I think that the brambles aren't helping and they will need to be removed. I have had a thought that allowing the brambles to grow berries this year then mulching the lot with a BCS flail might give a quick fix of sugars into the soil although would also be quick release nitrogen from the mashed non-fruit matter. At a later date, once the green matter has decomposed, I would like to yank out the bramble regrowth or possibly chemically treat it, then mulch in the manner of 'that' pear on Hampstead Heath to give a much slower release and improve the soil mycorrhiza Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I've attached some photos taken last week showing that it isn't looking too clever so will be woodchip mulching as bare minimum. I have a feeling that the initial halo'ing was carried out too quickly. We do have a fairly substantial budget to pump into this tree should anyone have any extra ideas?

Yeah for sure. Very common. You can reduce the impact on the following years growth by sweeping up all the leaves in the autumn. However, this also removes all the other organisms that rely on the leaf litter.

Mix them up with some woodchip and mulch the hell out of a worthy veteran tree. Then take photos and keep us updated as to how it pans out.

I agree.

Yet it tends to be the private sector who are the ones charging 1500 for a bat survey and the private sector building the 78k bat houses.

Clouds of marbled white round my way at the mo.

Not done it myself, but perhaps strapping cut material into the inner crown, kind of like holding onto a heavy weight close to your centre of mass rather than at arms length? Perhaps to keep live pathways (and now I'm just making something up on the spot) for a longer period, and this would really depend on how strong you are, shove a cut on underside of a branch and fold it up and over so the branch ends/foliage is relocated closer to the main stem. Again, strap it in for stability. Would be easier though to put cut in top, let it fold down then winch the branch ends in and up (rather than up and over). It would probably look horrific and christ knows what circumstances you would do it in. Benefit would be retention of some foliage over a longer period of time while keeping larger diameter wood within the crown. Some fairly large surface area wounds too. I've not even been drinking and this feels like the ramblings of a litre of Malibu and umbongo.

Apparently that 'research' was based upon an episode of Mock the Week rather than actual science (Of badgers, birds and bTB: why killing badgers won't save our skylarks - Badgergate). Everything is anecdotal. I don't have the answers. I don't think a lot of people who think they do do either. Meddling with ecosystems is incredibly complicated and targetting individual species is piddling in the wind. Personally, I'm happy that the OP has been building artificial setts. It's good to see the interest out there. The alternative would either be no development (not going to happen) or just merk everything that gets in the way. This way, there is still the option to get the terriers and spades out at a later date, once actual real evidence rather than hunches comes to light. Like matey above said, how we live is far more detrimental to all wildlife apart from urban foxes and pigeons, who love it.

If you're worried about security, don't visit dodgy sites with it and run a genuinely free and effective anti-virus/security such as Avast. You don't need to pay for these products. Apple is just as vulnerable as any other.

Sony Xperia Z phone OR tablet for its great camera. You can get free software for opening/editing Microsoft packages (e.g. Word/Excel). It's splashproof, has good quality screen resolution. Not overly expensive. For using all day every day e.g. for surveying, it's not up there for that I don't think, partially owing to the battery life.

Think some staff could do with kettle and teabag refreshers at my office.

Attachment doesn't work.

Thank you!

See the Fraxinus description in Diagnosis of Ill Health in Trees for further details.

I banged out at least one piece of work on the L4 that went past 7500.

Chop a load down and chuck it in a bucket or bin, fill with water and cover. Leave it for a few weeks, stirring it occasionally. Feed it to your tomatoes or chilli plants innit! Top tip.

I'm thinking of getting one for my own car as other road users seem utterly mental at the moment. One for back, one for front. Had a road rage matey the other day giving it the biggun because traffic was stationary ahead and I dared to not block the sideroad and let traffic pull out across me while I was waiting. Flashing his lights, beeping, pushing himself closer to my back end (oo err), then when traffic started moving again he carried on driving like an a hole. I couldn't even see the driver (some transit type thing) as he was so close. My last work discussed having them but general consensus was invasion of privacy, but I'm not convinced of that tbh. Having had an accident where a drunk went into the back of me then drove off (luckily his radiator split and his engine seized a few miles down the motorway), a rear cam would have picked him up and if he had got away, it would have been useful evidence as I was in no state to be remembering numberplates in a matter of moments.

If Kew don't have a robust inspection regime then I'm quitting now.

apologies for resurrecting this old thread. I deal with council-owned trees for an LA and am possibly getting my role expanded to include looking at 5 day exemptions, so looking for some clarification please. The 'dangerous' point is that it is at risk of imminent failure, from what I understand. Imminent means to me that it's partially windblown, damaged branches, extreme decay and the like. Should the proposed works be the minimum to make a dangerous tree safe? I saw one get submitted for a lime to be felled which was noted to be dangerous due to it being hollow and as the branches were poorly attached. That was the last I saw of it, so unsure on the outcome (dealt with by a locum who i never met), but (and I'm probably wrong here), there was no quantifying how hollow it was and the reason why the branches were poorly attached was as it had been previously pollarded but hadn't been repollarded for an excessive time. Would I have been acting appropriately to play devils advocate on it and ask for proof that the hollowing was significant and that the tree should be repollarded? Especially as it has not become this state overnight, so based on available evidence was not imminently dangerous?

Phellinus turburculoses?