The Log Blog

The recent storms have caused chaos and countless damage, and unfortunately many trees have been lost.

Bricklehampton Hall lost a very old veteran Beech, that was very close to the main entrance. Luckily, the only damage was to the lawn. But as it also fell across a car park, and narrowly missed a wall, things could have been very much worse.

Clearing up the damage, and dismantling the remaining trunks was a bittersweet experience for me. I grew up just around the corner, and fondly remember playing in its shadow on the long, hot summer days.

The church is now visible when approaching from the east, and the bank is now ready for the old footpath to be reinstated. We will be back in the Autumn to plant Hawthorn and Dog Rose to fill in the gaps in the hedge. All works were carried out under the strict supervision of the parish council and Wychavon’s tree officer.

Several days this week were spent reducing the height of two 50 year old Lombardy Poplars.

  
Initially the customer wanted them completely removed, through fear of them being blown over onto their block of stables. However, after discussing the plans with their next door neighbour, who remembers them being planted, the decision was made to have them reduced instead. By reducing them by a third, the sail effect has been dramatically reduced, giving them a much better chance of surviving high winds.

   
 At well over 30 meters tall, this kind of work isn’t for the faint hearted. And as one of the most awkward species of trees to climb, the job really pushed our limits. But the views made it all worth while…

   
    
    
 Happy neighbour + safer stables = happy customer.

  
The Skywalkers team got to spend the day down by the river, enjoying some rare sunshine. In between felling four large Cedars!

Sunday is normally our only day of rest, but the customer only received planning permission to remove the light blocking behemoths on Friday. They were also desperate for the work to be done, due to imminent demolition, and subsequent building works.

As well as requiring planning permission, due to a blanket Tree Preservation Order (TPO) in a conservation area, the trees also had to fully surveyed for bats and nesting birds. 

 Due to the location of the site in Stratford-upon-Avon, Natural England also has to be consulted. They were happy for the removals to go ahead, in exchange for an archeological dig in the front and rear garden before the demolition works commenced!

  
At Skywalkers we always treat tree removal as a last resort, and we will always try and discourage a customer unless a complete removal is absolutely necessary. But in this case, the neighbouring gardens both contained several other Western Red Cedars, so we were happy to comply with the customers wishes. The trees almost completely blocked the customer’s view of the Avon, as well as keeping the garden in constant shadow. This in turn, was having a detrimental effect on other species attempting to grow in their narrow riverside garden.

These Laylandii were in need of a some serious maintenance. One company quoted £400! We did all the work, including a thorough clean up, for less than half the first quote. The result was one very happy customer!

“Fantastic service! Very prompt to answer questions and give a quote. Trees look the best they ever have and everything was left tidy and clean afterwards! Will definitely be using again!”