Tree Surgeon Case Studies

We were recently called by one of the schools we have worked with in the past as they had a branch fail due to the presence of Massaria.

Massaria is a disease of London plane trees, which causes large lesions on the upper surfaces of major branches, branch dieback, and can cause branches to break off the tree and fall.

As the early stages of Massaria are only visible on the upper side of the branches, we arranged for a team, at short notice, to climb all of the London plane trees on site to record their findings and remove any infected branches. As you can see from the attached images, there were several large limbs with early signs of the infection, as well as some smaller branches with more severe lesions.

Not only do they no longer have any Massaria infected branches on site, but they have an annual programme in place to aerially inspect this tree group along with a management plan that will dramatically reduce the risk of future branch failure due to the presence of Massaria.

Not only do we carry out pruning, felling, planting and stump grinding but we also take care of aerial tree inspections, massaria inspections and health & safety tree surveys and reports.

Get in touch today for all of your tree related needs.

Over the last 10 years we’ve been entrusted with looking after the trees at Ealing Studios in West London. We carry out a yearly assessment of their tree stock and provide recommendations to ensure their trees are safe, healthy and attractive.
On Thursday 6th March we carried out a crown reduction to a Lebanon cedar, one of a row of three Cedars which compliment a grassed courtyard between filming studios.
Matt, Chester, Jake and Dylan arrived early with our vehicles which included a truck mounted Cherry picker to ensure we carried out the work in a safely. The tree would have been a very challenging climb and the benefit of a Cherry picker increased safety to our operatives as well as ensuring any cut limbs could be safely lowered or dropped to the ground. Safer for the studio users and our ground staff too.
After completion of the site safety brief, the guys created an exclusion area using barriers and Matt and Jake climbed high in the cherry picker to start the pruning.
4 hours later the Cedar tree had been reduced 2.5m towards the neighbouring property as well as having the deadwood removed and the remainder of the crown balanced to ensure an even appearance.
It’s a great to have a strong, collaborative relationship with the team at Ealing studios to ensure we can provide the best customer service, deliver excellent tree surgery and help maintain the trees at one of the boroughs most iconic sites.

Sadly this mature Copper Beech was riddled with Meripilus giganteus and was starting to dieback in the crown. As this disease affects the integrity of the root system and the overall stability of the tree, we had no other option but to remove it.

As the timber was still structurally sound, it made most sense to get in touch with Bruce from Fallen & Felled who was thrilled to arrange the collection of the main stem which will now be milled, dried and repurposed in some fine furniture.

Today arborists Matt, Josh and Gary were carrying out an aerial tree inspection of a mature Swamp Cypress in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

It was recommended that this tree had an aerial inspection due to its size, age, proximity to the surrounding buildings and following the comments of several concerned residents about how much it sways in the wind.

Following this inspection, a report will be drawn up and shared with our client along any further recommendations for future management.

What a beautiful day to be climbing such an impressive tree.

Friday 9th August saw the Tom Boswell Tree Services summer day out. It was a mixture of team building, competitions and a few well earned drinks too……

The day started at The Breakfast Club in Camden Passage, Angel with a hearty breakfast followed by a walk to The Jenius Social Club 20 mins north. There we were split into 4 teams and given the chance to battle it out to see which team could produce the best 2 course dinner. Marks were on presentation, taste, work space tidiness and general team work with the winners receiving the coveted trophy prize and the respect and admiration of all involved!

All the teams did really well (as you can see from the plates!) It was a great experience with team work and collaboration being the main winners.

Big thanks to Rob our operations director for organising a fantastic day out.

Our onsite teams recently undertook some additional training from Arbskills trainer Ben Minty Rose.
Ben joined us at North Acton playing fields close to our yard and organised a fantastic workshop of rescue scenarios and best modern practice.

Ben’s company Arbskills (https://www.instagram.com/arbskills/) supplies bespoke training to tree surgery company’s looking to ensure their staff are fully compliant with health and safety regulations and also ensuring they are working with the most up to date methods and knowledge.

The day started at our yard with coffee, pastries and an overview of what we would be doing. After this the teams headed to North Acton playing fields. The tree team at Ealing Council had kindly allowed us to use some of the parks bigger trees – with the usual safety measures for working around the public – thank you to Ealing tree officers, this meant we had some impressive Oak trees to swing around in!

The workshop included a refresh of the most commonly used kit – ropes, harnesses, knot tying, personal protective kit etc. Followed by some bespoke training for our various employees. The company has a mixture of lead tree climbers, climbers in training plus grounspersons who are aerial rescue qualified and able should the need arise.

Ben was able to split the teams up to ensure everyone received training relevant to their role.

To test the guys a series of rescues were set up to ensure all team members were up to date and proficient in rescuing their colleagues. Towards the end of the day the Ben covered some of the more advanced climbing systems we are starting to use such as single rope technique or SRT which is increasing being utilised in our industry to improve efficiency.

A big thanks to Ben for his fantastic teaching as well as a big thank you to all the guys who made the day a success. The team received a very smart aerial rescue update workshop certificate.

Yesterday our team took on this beast in the heart of London.

Nothing major, just a light reduction focusing mainly on some limbs overhanging the neighbouring buildings and some overextended sections of the crown.

On a sunny day, theres nothing better.

Today we had quite an interesting Robinia to prune. We had originally applied to the council to have this tree removed due to the excessive dieback throughout the crown but our application was denied. Sometimes the local authorities would prefer we removed the dead, dying and dangerous branches along with some light pruning to see how the tree responds over the coming years. Hat’s off to the team who worked on this one which was by no means an easy day.

Lots of clients are contacting us at the moment to ask if we can help maximise the amount of sun they get into their inner city gardens without having to remove any of their beloved trees. This Cherry tree reduction from a few weeks back is a prime example of how we can help. This tree was in the rear garden of a property with no side access so great care was taken to remove the brash through the house without causing any damage. The garden was flooded with natural light upon completion and the tree retained it’s natural shape.

Back in the winter we removed this mature dead Oak tree for a local school in Ealing. Due to the trees condition and proximity to the public highway, the safest option was to use Wallace Timbers grapple saw and Hiab arm to avoid rigging large brittle sections of the crown. Team leader Ross climbed the main stem once the crown was removed to tackle the final sections of timber.

Theres not much our Predator 460 can’t handle. It was the perfect tool for the job to remove this old Robinia stump on a construction site in South London.

This mature dead Ash tree was a bit too brittle to dismantle with the use of rigging techniques due to some neighbouring buildings. Luckily Wallace Timber was available to help us get it down safely with the use of their Hiab and grapple attachment. Here you can see Pablo removing the final sections of the stem.

This mature Poplar tree had sadly not responded well to some pretty severe pruning work a few years ago at a local school. As the tree was no longer stable enough to climb, we decided to make use of a MEWP to get the tree down safely. Luckily for the local bird and bug population, the school was keen to retain the logs in a neat pile for habitat and a 3-metre section of the main stem was left standing. Wherever possible, it is always a great idea to retain standing dead timber for birds and insects to use for habitat. Do you have a tree that may be looking a bit worse for wear or simply in need of some summer pruning? Please feel free to get in touch for a free estimate with one of our experts.