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Got it in one! I didn’t get a snap of the bark but that’s the badger. I don’t see too many English Elms up this way, although there are a few Wych Elms about. Cheers folks.

Out and about today and spotted this guy. I wouldn't have looked at it twice except someone had taken it upon themselves to push a few tonnes of topsoil and debris up against its stem. The light wasn't great, but I'm having a mind blank on the ID. Short, alternating and hairy twigs with alternating hairless buds. Any ideas?

Similar story for me as some of the folks before, but I’m still in the transition phase. I’ve had a career in education since I graduated 15 or so years ago. First in schools, then museums and now universities. Although I’ve enjoyed it I have long felt that my working life should involve the outdoors and ideally making it a bit of a better place to be. Over lockdown I did a distance learning arb course, a pile of practical volunteering with local environmental charities and at the beginning of the year went down to 4 days at work to build up some relevant experience in surveying. Surveying and consultancy was the bit of the industry that interested me the most from the off, maybe coming from an academic (read: soft hands) background? Managed to get acquainted with a local consultant with 20+ years experience who has been amazing in getting me out on all kinds of sites, from single tree planning applicants to giant rural estate surveys. It’s been a sort of apprenticeship in my late 30s and I’ve loved every minute of it. Next step is to jack in my job at the end of the year and work towards surveying full time from the spring.

Usually this is the result of a survey. Many surveyors use physical, metal tags to identify individual trees being surveyed. Some of us choose instead to record accurate GPS locations to reference the position of individual stems.

I just wanted to update this thread, on a few fronts: Reply from the local authority - they're slammed, call back in April. Chat with one of the bigger local arb firms - really promising. Happy to have me on for a few days as a groundie/general labourer to see how the business works. There might be an opportunity to do a bit of survey work for them down the line, too. The big, early win was making contact with a the local consultant I mentioned in the last post. After shadowing him on a couple of jobs later on last year I managed to secure a few BS5837 and Management surveys in and around the local area, both for domestic clients and also for property developers. This has been really valuable experience and has helped me start to get my eye in. Lots more to learn, but off to a decent start in 2022.

Update: I've followed the advice given and contacted a few local consultancy and arborist companies, and followed up with some interesting conversations. Due to a good slice of luck and hopefully because I've come along at the right time I may have a couple of BS5837 surveys coming my way in the new year, plus a few shifts dragging brash for a local firm so I can see how it all works from a contractor perspective. Keen to see what this all leads to, but I've got my eye on the prize of becoming a competent and reliable surveyor whilst building up my contact book. Thanks so far everyone.

Thanks for the advice. I've got copies of all of the above as it happens and I'm very glad I didn't need to pay for them individually, although my time will come. I do have access to an academic library through my day job which does come in handy. It is coming through loud and clear that some experience on the ground would be very useful, and I'm up for the graft. Looks like I'm getting PPE for Christmas...

Cheers Andrew. I've been in touch with the local council tree guys but with the amount of storm damage they're on with clearing up at the moment I'm not holding my breath for a quick response. Any advice on approaching arb companies for a bit of shadowing?

Cheers for the advice Paul. I didn't want to ramble on too much in my first post, but my aim this year is to get into suveying and inspecting, likely starting with BS5837 work once I've sharpened up a bit. There are a couple of local consultants who have been quite generous with their time, letting me shadow them on management and BS5837 surveys this autumn. I also did the AA Basic Tree Inspection last year which was very helpful and I'll definitely move onto PTI when I feel I'm ready. On the masters front; I'm already educated to postgraduate level albeit in a different field entirely so, aside from the time commitment, I'm quite confident with that level of work - probably moreso than I am with fungi ID!

Over lockdown I completed a L4 Certificate in Arboriculture with Myerscough after deciding that I am about ready for a career change. After spending 15 odd years working in education I've seen many before me succeed in achieving a career change into something more closely aligned with their interests, however ambitious. My plan is to work towards becoming an independent arboricultural consultant in the North East. I've taken the step to drop to 4 days at work from the new year and plan to use the time to gain more experience, to practice my tree, fungi and pest/pathogen ID and get more training under my belt before diving in to this world from a more solid platform. I'm not looking to go on the tools, but I am looking to get up from behind a desk to get more hands-on experience of the non-academic side of this business. Over the next year or so I'd like to get out with as many teams in the region as possible, to see how the seasoned pros operate in carrying out surveys and inspections, and also when working on management of trees following them being looked at and plans put in place. Down the line I'd like to get PTI under my belt, and potentially look at a Master's level qualification to boost my knowledge, particularly of pest and disease and management of the urban forest. For now I'm looking for two things; 1. Advice on where you think I should go next and 2. Anyone kind enough to give me the chance to come out for a few days with you or your teams in the North East (I'm based in Newcastle) to get a feel for how you operate (unpaid, of course!). Any support you can offer would be great. Cheers.