It’s not just about climbing trees

There’s a sort of family thing about climbing things. I climbed trees as a boy (and fell out of them…yeh I know accounts for the damage). Our daughter and granddaughter are occasionally to be seen climbing. But lets stick to trees. These days I photograph them more often than I go up them. I like looking up at them.

A couple of weeks ago it was decided that some of the trees in our garden were getting a bit heavy – too many branches and leaves. They were making our dwelling a bit dark and gloomy. A local tree surgeon agreed to help and went climbing.

It was interesting to see that quite a lot of the equipment he used as he shimmied up and down the tree among branches that were too weak to take his weight were very similar to the carabiners, descenders and climbing clips that I used in caving.

The whole tree pruning process was pretty smooth and rapid. Twigs, branches and leaves all came down in good order.

Then of course there was a need to clean up after he had cut down the branches. This is the bit I hate when I do it. Branches can be pretty irregular and mine usually get tangled up in others and they poke you in the eye as you drag them away. It was at this point that I encountered the team using a chipper. It simply chewed up the branches and spat them out at the other end. Magic – what an invention (Timberwolf) – that was the word you were looking for last week.

It’s all about tools for the job – maybe me and my little hacksaw need to upgrade a bit before I go into competition with a tree surgeon.

Even so maybe I’ll stick to taking the photographs and perhaps shin up the easy looking stumps when no one is looking.