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Cumbria’s Biggest Tree
The Grand fir (Abies grandis), which stands at a lofty 57.8 metres (190ft), has been confirmed as the tallest by officials from the Tree Register, the organisation which keeps a record of the UK’s most significant specimens. The tree was planted as part of Wansfell Holme country estate arboretum, now known as Skelghyll Woods, in Ambleside. At 57.8m or 189.6ft, the Skelghyll Grand Fir ...
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Tree Surveys why bother ?
Tree surveys why bother ? Trees are a part of the urban and rural landscape and provide so many benefits. Most people pay them little thought as they go about their daily routines. Maybe stopping for a few seconds to acknowledge their beauty or perhaps resting under the shade of their canopies on a hot day. Trees are self optimising structures. They grow in such a way as to distribute the gravitation forces through them in a ...
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Natural Cable Brace
I was working on some trees a few weeks back and came across a remarkable 'natural' cable brace in a beech tree. Normally most branches that end up fusing together have been growing close together for some time and end up fusing or grafting. This is caused when the cambium layer (the green tissue just under the bark that is the actively growing layer) ...
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Mature Ash fails due to butt rot
The past day or two in the lakes has brought stormy weather as hurricane Katia sweeps across the atlantic. I was recently called to a tree failure in a park, where a large mature ash tree had failed at the butt and had balanced itself precariously on its branches a good six foot off the ground. Luckily the tree failed on the edge of ...
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Beech blows over in stormy weather
A large mature beech blew over in the recent windy period in the Lake District. Another tree to fall victim to the stormy conditions. The tree was over 25 metres tall and over 1metre in circumference. The tree had a full crown with no signs of any dieback, perfect for the wind to catch! On closer inspection of the root plate it appeared that some ...
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Giant Redwood and Honey fungus
Giant Redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are some of the tallest trees in the UK growing so far, to a lofty height of 54 metres. A tree in Perthshire has been found with a girth of 4 metres in diameter and over 12 metres in circumference in only 150 years. Very few giant redwoods have been known to blow down in storms although they are susceptible to branches breaking and splitting in the wind. These split branches ...