We have had a very busy Summer so far and most of the team are taking a well earned holiday as I write this during what is normally our quiet time. We are, however still very busy and I am just about to head off on Honeymoon after getting married in July so frantic last minute work scheduling is the order of the day today. We look after the tree stock for 10 private schools spanning 4 counties at present and this involves carrying out a Visual Hazard Assessment on 5 of the sites anually and 2 bi-anually. Luckily the weather has been kind this week allowing me to complete Surveys at 4 sites this week.

Declan is off on Paternity Leave this week after becoming a father to a little baby girl for the first time. Colin, our part-time Groundsman has been invaluable help over the last few weeks, covering for leave and days off as usual.

We have completed several very challenging jobs of late, the most notable being a very technical sectional fell of a very large Pinus Nigra in Abingdon that had outgrown its space and become dangerous. The added challenge in addition to the road, pavement and property were 3 overhead phone lines and an electricity cable running beneath the crown. The job involved removing the crown using a 50 ft MEWP (Cherry Picker), carefully rigging off small sections through the cables using a twin rope lowering system the sectioning off the huge main stem in 3ft chunks using our heavy-duty Stein rigging bollard. The job was completed successfully with no problems and drew a huge crowd of onlookers as most of the neighbourhood turned out to watch the spectacle!

We took delivery of a new Bandit 90 wood chipper from Dean at Global Recycling at the beginning of August to help us deal with larger conifer removal and clearance jobs where there are large volumes of arisings and unwanted wood to process, replacing 2 smaller machines that have been sold. The new machine is capable of processing wood up to 9 inches in diameter and a 3 man team struggles to keep up with it. It is certainly a very impressive piece of equipment.

Andy Chipper Bandit 90 new

We have also replaced our old Rayco stump grinder that was getting a bit rattly with a much larger and more powerful diesel engined Vermeer machine that will allow us to take on the largest stumps we can find, continuing to improve efficiency and getting larger grinding jobs completed in less time. We still have our small Rayco for those through-the-house jobs and it still provides a good workout for the forearms on a regular basis!

Stump Grinder new

The cooler (and damper!) end to Summer has led to an unexpectedly early start to firewood sales this year. We have an excellent stock of seasoned hardwood logs ready for dispatch again this year so please order as soon as you are ready to ensure you are prepared to combat those chilly Autumn evenings that will be upon us soon. Remember, we also sell nets of kindling too which we can deliver along with your logs.

We will be back to full capacity after the August bank holiday are we are all looking forward to a busy September and hopefully an Indian Summer, if we’re lucky!