Today, in between the rain showers, we had chance to enjoy Victoria Park in Smethwick. Initially it seemed like any other urban park, and indeed it is in many respects. It has a great outdoor gym and has been much improved since the 80′s.

The park also has a fair few trees and amongst the usual trees such as beech, london plane, sycamore and oak, for example, there are a few less seen (less seen in Sandwell that is) trees. There are a few silver maples, different varieties of cherry and laburnum to name a few. There are also some lovely old silver birch which tower over a path by the play ground.

All in all it is worth having a wonder around if you are in the area to see what you can spot. There is also the Smethwick Heritage Center which is free to enter and have a look around.

Realm of the Deer by Alex Saberi

Forest like a Dream by Silviu Vlasceanu

Foggy Forest by Roeselien Raimond

Into the winter forest by Kiyo Murakami

The Magician by Ronen Goldman

The Eerie Forest by Dave Lally

Rainforest by Aulia Rahman

boii taietorului de lemne (woodcutter’s oxen) by Vlad Dumitrescu

Magical forest II by Agustin Rueda

Fire in National Park of Cilento (SA) – Italy by Antonio Grambone

After The Rain by Gary McParland

If you have been out and about the last few weeks you may have noticed some of the plants are starting to bloom, spring is nearly with us and to celebrate we bring you 10 images of budding trees

104.365 Tree Buds by barilynn8

04.23.09 – Maple Tree Bud by SherryH80

tree buds by rn.interrupted

Tree buds with yellow flowers in spring sun

Peach tree buds by Electric Arc

Tree buds by Ghazghul

Red Bud Tree Buds……..3-12-08 by I’mMurphy’sLaw

Buds in Utero by rapt_in_roses

Tree Bud by ‘SomewhereinAK’

Tree Bud 2 by robinparmar

As today is Friday, and it has been a week of hard work after the wind and storms last weekend, I thought I would bring you some funny pictures which have made there way into my inbox. Most of them are watermarked www.engrish.com, which is a good site full of images on the same theme, so i hope they don’t mind me showing the images here.

Major droughts may have spurred the demise of multiple cultures and cities in pre-Hispanic Mexico over the last millennium.

A new study, which used tree rings to add many hundreds of years to the region’s climate record, pinpointed four severe droughts in the region over the last 1,200 years. Some were far more intense and prolonged than anything ever seen in modern meteorological records, and many coincided with major historical events.

One, for example, lasted for 25 years around the year 900 and accompanied the end of a flourishing era of Mayan city-states.

Read the full article here

Sunshine through trees by Erroba

Lonely Tree with Cloud and Dandelions by Aremac

Winter Tree by Andy Stafford

Hampton Tree and Spanish Moss by Colin J Clarke

Nature . Tree . Landscape . Sunset . Water . Sun (Conte – L’Arbre et le Soleil) by Tiquetonne2067

Almost Perfect Balance – Line of Winter Trees – Tayside Scotland by idg

Lone Tree at Eskdale Rocky Outcrop by Mark L Edwards

Family trees by adrians_art

La Résistance by Cwithe

Rubber Trees by Rosario Cabeltis

There are many regulations that control what tree surgeons can and cannot do. Working at height regulstions, health and safety at work act, lifting operation and lifting equipment regulations (LOLER) are only a few. Most of these regulations will be met by your tree surgeon without you noticing, unless they are cowboys. For example, tree surgeons (arborists) must wear chainsaw trousers and chainsaw boots, so if your tree surgeon turns up in jeans and trainers I would turn them away and seek a professional.

However, there are areas of the law, particularly planning legislation, which a tree surgeon may discus with you. In the worst case it could prevent your arborist from working on your tree.

Tree Preservation Orders – TPOs

A TPO can be placed on a tree or group of trees to protect them from felling, uprooting or any other wilful damage without the permission of the Local Planning Authority, who administer TPOs. A TPO can be placed on a tree for a number of reasons. It may be an ancient tree, a tree with nice form, a tree of local importance, a tree on a development site e.t.c.
Normally a tree officer from the local authority can place a TPO on a tree with immediate effect and will notify the owners in writing, the owners can appeal but they only have a certain time period to do so.

I have a tree with a TPO, what can i do?

You cannot do anything to a tree with a TPO without first contacting you local planning department. You will have to put the request in writing and the Local Planning Authority will respond and let you know if the proposed work can be conducted. If they decide the work cannot be conducted they normally let you know what would be acceptable. If you request permission to remove the tree they will probably refuse permission but may give permission for a 10% reduction for example. All good arborists are aware of TPOs and will check if your tree has a TPO before they commence work. If you tree has a TPO they will also handle the application to conduct the required work on your behalf whilst keeping you updated. Of course this all takes time so please allow for this when you first contact your arborist.
The fines for wilful damage to a tree with a TPO are great. You, and your tree surgeon could be fined £20,000 per tree and you could be made to replant another tree in same area, as close to the original tree as possible.

Exemptions

There are exemptions where you do not need to get permission from the Local Planning Authority.

• Dead, dangerous or dying trees can be removed without permission but the onus is on the person who authorises the work to prove the tree was dead, dangerous or dying. Normally a qualified arborist makes a detailed report before the tree is removed.
• Where work upon a tree is needed to make way for a development which has received full planning permission from the Local Planning Authority.
• Work which has been approved by the Forestry Commision under a felling licence

Conservation Areas

A conservation area is usually applied to an urban area and is designed to preserve or enhance an area with special architectural or historic value. A conservation area preserves many things (shop fronts, building materials, street furniture e.t.c.) including trees. If you live in a conservation area you must notify the Local Planning Authority of the intended works. They then have 6 weeks to respond. Within that period they may visit the location and place a TPO on any tree(s) they wish to protect. This will then prevent you from conducting the work, but they are likely to talk to you and discuss alternatives. If they do not respond within 6 weeks you can carry on with the works, but only the work you notified the Local Planning Authority about, no more.

Further Reading

• Tree Preservation Orders: A Guide to the Law and Good Practice
• Protected trees: a guide to tree preservation procedures
• Wikipedia: Tree preservation order
• Planning Portal : Help | Application for Tree Work

The Forestry Commission was created by the government after the first World War to ensure Britain would have enough timber in any future wars. Unfortunately World War 2 came a little too soon as the new plantations were too young to be harvested. Of course, the Forestry Commission continued to manage our Forests to the benefit of the country, it’s environment, wildlife and society. The Commission manages 250,000 hectares of land which is enjoyed by walkers, mountain bike and horse riders, families and bird watchers to name but a few. In fact, it’s forests receive 40 million visits a year from all sectors of society

It now appears that this is now under threat as the government plan to sell up to all of the Forestry Commission estate.

The government has today released a consultation about selling some of the woodlands it owns to the private sector. As you can imagine this idea of loosing woodland to private individuals has not been received well by the public and local communities who use the Forests.

Under the plans some of the forests will be deemed as ‘heritage forests’ which will have all of their access rights preserved. It is proposed that these could be given to charitable trust to manage but no charities have yet been named who could fulfil such a large task. Local charitable organisation could also run their own local forest how they see fit, this fits in with the government’ s ‘big society’ idea. Some forests already have ‘friends of..’ organisations which are involved in the management of their local forest with the Forestry Commission.

So if some of the forests are to be given away the government will not generate any revenue from the sale and funds will be made available to organisations so it begs the question ‘Whats the point?’

Other woodlands, particularly commercial plantations, would be leased so that access is preserved and the government can still have some degree of control over the land. The government states it would therefore have an income form the lease of land but would, i presume, loose the revenue generated from timber sales. Then there is the issue of subsidies which are already paid to the private sector. Whilst the government may reduce it running cost of the Forestry Commission it is possible that the subsidies it pays out will increase.

Those against selling say that public access could be threatened and private land owners will try to prevent access to woodlands or will to the very least possible to maintain public access. There are also fears for the biodiversity of the land.

Jim Paice, Environment Minster, talking on Radio 4 this evening stated ” The consultation we announced this morning is based on the idea that we want to involve the public and the community much more in how our forests are owned and Managed. If we wanted to do this just for financial reasons we would have put the whole lot up for sale and taken the highest bidder.” He went on to confirm that access rights will be preserved in a written legal format or “there will be no deal.”

Campaign groups have been springing up across England to oppose the sale of their local public forests including Save Lakeland’s Forests, Hands off our Forests in the Forest of Dean, Save Thetford Forest and Save Cannock Chase.

Over 250,000 people have signed the online petition at 38degrees.org.uk

Further reading:

• DEFRA consultation
• Guardian | England’s forests: the time to act is now
• Telegraph | Forest sell-off: Some questions answered
• BBC News | Concern over plan for Forestry Commission forests

One man, who was short of a hedge trimmer (amongst other things) decided that he could not leave the hedge trimming any longer. He and a friend set about cutting the 2 meter hedge using a ride on lawn mower and a crane.

The anonymous man was lifted by the crane and flown over the hedge while neighbours watched in amazement. Its good to see he is wearing safety cap (to keep the sun out his eyes) and safety sandals (to keep his feet from over heating)

If you have a hedge which is in need of a trim then get in touch with us for a free quote.

Read the full article at : http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/3070920/High-rider-trims-his-hedge