Storm – A passion for trees…

During the worst of storm Eunice a magnificent veteran Beech succumbed to the savage gusts, sending it crashing down onto the bank from which it grew.

The whitest part is what’s left after the fungus has had it’s feed. So brittle it can be crushed by hand!

The root plate and base of the trunk were riddled with Ganoderma (a type of fungus that feasts on healthy heartwood) which compromised it’s structural integrity. Had it been inspected by a professional surveyor a few years ago, (considered good, routine maintenance for mature trees near highways and public spaces) the infection would have been detected, and the tree could have been heavily reduced, and preserved for many years to come, providing important habitat for the local ecosystem.

Can you see the ‘widow makers’ hanging above the lane?

When the old boy failed, the crown completely blocked a (luckily) quiet lane in Chillington, and the only casualties were a BT cable and telegraph pole. A council approved contractor attended in the afternoon to clear the road, and Openreach made a temporary fix to get local residents back online.

Although the road was cleared, locals soon raised concerns to the Parish Council about how the trunk had been left perched, precariously on the side of the steep bank. when challenged by the PC, the contractor’s response was “we were only there to clear the road”

The PC Clerk tracked down the owner of the tree, and recommended they contact Skywalkers DTS asap to inspect the site, which Jack did within 20 minutes of the call.

The whole area was a disaster waiting to happen. The crown had smashed other, smaller trees on both sides of the lane, leaving many hanging branches (widow makers) above the lane. And the trunk. That enormous trunk, was only being prevented from sliding straight down the bank, into the lane, by a small Ash (infected with Dieback) that the Beech had crushed when it fell. A road closure was immediately ordered, and Jack made a plan to make the lane safe again.

At 07:00 the following morning, Jordan from Davis Building arrived with his 25m rotary tele-handler. after a thorough risk assessment and method statement was agreed by the whole team, we set about making the lane safe again.

Sections of the trunk were carefully cut away whilst being supported by the winch on the machine. Once separated from the rest of the trunk, the sections were lifted over the bank and into the landowner’s field behind.

Piece by piece, the whole trunk was placed safely out of harms way.

Once the main trunk was cleared from the bank, the team set about removing the dangerous, damaged Ash trees that were full of Beech brash.

Spinney preparing the next section for lifting

The rotary tele-handler tells the operator the precise weight of each load it’s lifts. The total for all the sections of the main trunk? 12.6 tonnes!

With the trunk shifted to safety and the other hazards made safe, our job was complete, and the lane was reopened. Many thanks to Davis Building (SW) Ltd for providing the rotary tele-handler at less than 12hrs notice, it would have been a very different job, (and considerably longer road closure) without you.

When storm Eunice hit the South Hams on Friday morning, thousands of trees were damaged or uprooted. One particularly elderly victim was a veteran Horse Chestnut on the Fallapit Estate, near Kingsbridge. Measuring over 25m tall, and weighing in at an estimated 9 tonnes, it fell to the ground with incredible velocity, shattering itself and sending wooden shrapnel flying in all directions.

Luckily, nobody was around when it let go, so the only victims were a couple of small Silver Birch and a brand new Volvo XC60. But trees can be replanted, and cars can be replaced.

One of the residents contacted the property management company to inform them, who in turn, contacted Skywalkers DTS. Time was most certainly of the essence, as access to the residential properties on the estate was completely blocked by the fallen Chestnut.

The first task was to free the trapped car from under a very large limb, so it could be safely moved away, and no further damage could be done (although it will almost certainly be a write-off).

Once the car was safely out of the way, we set about carefully dismantling the large limbs and trunks. Fallen trees can be extremely unpredictable. Vast amounts of energy can be stored under tension or compression, so it’s critical that the energy is released as gently as possible. One overzealous cut, and a limb could kick out with incredible force, causing serious injury, or worse.

Even for seasoned professionals, reading tension and compression can sometimes be difficult, but on this occasion the tree has smashed itself up so much, there was a minimal amount to release before we could get on with the clear up operation of cutting up the timber into manageable sizes logs and chipping the vast amounts of brash.