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Subcontract climber required who is qualified to remove OPM. 1 x Oak to climb, own PPE required. Please PM me if interested. Thanks

! ! No more Quercus imports from the Netherlands, Belgium or Germany…..press release Friday 12th July 2019 from DEFRA.!! Tighter restrictions on oak tree imports to come into force. Strengthened measures on the import of most species of oak into England are to be introduced to protect native trees from the threat of the tree disease Oak Processionary Moth (OPM). The bolstered measures will only permit imports of certain oak trees, including:- · Those from OPM free countries. · Those from designated pest free areas including Protected Zones (PZ) - an area of the European Union declared free of OPM. · Those that have been grown under complete physical protection for their lifetime. This Statutory Instrument (SI) – which is due to be introduced in Parliament shortly– builds on measures introduced in August 2018 and applies to all oak trees, except cork oak, over a certain size. The restrictions will cover both imports from overseas and the movement of trees from areas of the country where OPM is already present – in London and surrounding counties. At the Barcham Trees nursery in Cambridgeshire, UK, we have been enforcing a strict Biosecurity Policy for a number of years. Our trees are supplied free of OPM. Visit www.barchampro.co.uk

With DEFRA announcing a ban on imports into the UK of Quercus from The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, a timely reminder to source trees from a UK nursery with a Biosecurity Policy which can demonstrate an audit trail on every tree offered for sale. At Barcham Trees we have been banging this drum for years. Imports from Europe have been made available to the Landscape Industry to offer the variety demanded but these imports need to be grown on in the UK, acclimatised and quarantined before sale, to ensure any live or dormant pests and diseases are eradicated before despatch into our glorious UK landscape. At the link below is a PDF copy of our Biosecurity Policy which you can download and save to your computer for future reference. This is a useful guide to refer to from whichever nursery you source trees for planting in the UK. https://www.barchampro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Barcham-Biosecurity-for-web.pdf

Snap shot of a random typical day as a Trees Management Officer, at the City of London’s Open Space of Hampstead Heath June 2017 05:10 hrs Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head………. well, turned the alarm off before the wife elbows me in the ribs! It’s early and I’m faced with a coffee fuelled drive in to work from deepest darkest sub-urban Suffolk. In to work for 06:50, unlock the park and office, make a brew, fire up the computer to check the weekends e-mails (already checked on the duty work phone to be honest, but I don’t let the better half know I’m keeping an eye on work at the weekend) The office is a porta-cabin in the Arb yard at a Victorian park in North West London. I’ve been employed here variously since the hazy summer of 1985, at first as a horticultural apprentice, then as a climbing Arb before becoming team supervisor then the job morphing in to a TMO. I run an in-house Arb team of four, we inspect our tree population using Arbortrack within a risk sequencing system. We sometimes cut our trees, we sometimes airspade our trees, we sometimes talk to the locals about our/their trees. Anything tree related, from safety to ecology, is basically our remit. The Heath has approximately 20,000 trees and sprawls out across parts of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden & Haringey but the trees have no conservation area or tree preservation orders. 07:30 hrs This particular morning I’m off to Queens Park (one of our satellite parks) over in the north east of the London Borough of Brent to check for the presence of Oak Processionary Caterpillars. There are only a couple of dozen oaks here out of the local 580 tree population, and the critters have been sniffing them out for the last couple of years. During a walk over inspection I pick up on a few new potential Massaria affected London plane branches in the park, so note them for climb inspection and potential removal by the team possibly this week or later in the month. 09:30 hrs Catch a breakfast in the park café, chatting to the (fleet, constabulary and park) manager about vehicle & equipment (mewp) disposal. 10:00 hrs Drive back over to Hampstead. There’s a phone call report of a large branch failure on an Ash near to property on the other side of the heath. Turn up, check on the tree failure (Inonotus hispidus decay at an old pruning wound) Clear the branch failure and note that the tree should go on to our priority tree works list for reduction, as its lost another branch in the past probably also due to I. hispidus. 11:30 hrs Meet up with my boss in Highgate to sign off the team’s end of year performance/development reviews……….blinkin paper work ! 12:00 hrs Back to the yard. I order in some climbing & rigging equipment & vehicle parts for the team Land Rover. Send a few e-mails off. Sample of emails include…… Brent Tree Officer (about OPM) My boss (about a work experience enquiry from France) In house Ecologist (asking me for a fungi ident) My boss (about some training issues) A student (about why dressing parts of one of our trees in tin foil for an photography project, is not the type of thing we would ideally condone) Boss again (about team members sickness trigger level meeting) Grab a coffee 13:30 hrs Catch up with team out on site where they are clearing & lifting a few trees where the horticultural team are building a new stumpery. 14:45 hrs Back to the office. Putting together a list of veteran trees to work on over the next 18 months as part of an Ecology, Conservation & Trees team annual work plan. 16:00 hrs Up to the head office on the Archway Road to catch up with the admin team (about receipts & purchase card issues......blinkin admin) then the boss to have the bi-monthly 121 meeting, talking budgets, work plans and stuff. 17:30 hrs – 20:00 hrs Finish the day up by having a look at a few unread threads at the UKTC, LTOA & Arbtalk forums Chatting on line to an American Arb about Subterranean Root Girdles ! Edit some photographic images for my archives. tree day done..........now where's me beer !

Calling on all arborists, tree surgeons, horticulturist, gardener or similar professionals working with trees in the London Boroughs. I am conducting a confidential survey to gather information that will help our efforts and those of our partners to limit the population, spread and impact of the pest species Oak Processionary Moth (OPM). This pest is known to be present in several boroughs in West London, the Bromley and Croydon areas of South London, and the Spelthorne and Elmbridge Districts of Surrey. The purpose of the survey is to gather information which will help us to better understand how arboricultural, landscaping and gardening businesses operate in London. In turn, our better understanding of those working in the OPM-affected areas will allow us to more effectively manage this pest in the future. I can reassure you that your information will be treated in the strictest confidence, and nothing in the final survey report will identify any individual business. So to help us manage this pest more effectively, I would invite you to complete the short, on-line survey at http://bit.ly/OPM-survey And if you know other similar professionals who might not have heard about this survey, please also encourage them to take part. Further information about OPM is available on our website at Forestry Commission - Pests & Diseases - Oak Processionary Moth. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important matter.

Calling on all arborists, tree surgeons, horticulturist, gardener or similar professionals working with trees in the London Boroughs. I am conducting a confidential survey to gather information that will help our efforts and those of our partners to limit the population, spread and impact of the pest species Oak Processionary Moth (OPM). This pest is known to be present in several boroughs in West London, the Bromley and Croydon areas of South London, and the Spelthorne and Elmbridge Districts of Surrey. The purpose of the survey is to gather information which will help us to better understand how arboricultural, landscaping and gardening businesses operate in London. In turn, our better understanding of those working in the OPM-affected areas will allow us to more effectively manage this pest in the future. I can reassure you that your information will be treated in the strictest confidence, and nothing in the final survey report will identify any individual business. So to help us manage this pest more effectively, I would invite you to complete the short, on-line survey at http://bit.ly/OPM-survey And if you know other similar professionals who might not have heard about this survey, please also encourage them to take part. Further information about OPM is available on our website at Forestry Commission - Pests & Diseases - Oak Processionary Moth. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this important matter.