I know posts have been quiet, had a few technical problems, also busy getting a new van ready for work.

Should be on the road soon looking smart and trendy !

A couple of interesting things have happened with wildlife in the course of our work, while Michael was taking down a large Beech tree

he realised a pair of Woodpeckers had nested in the branch he had removed! So he nailed it back onto the trunk and the parents carried on rearing their young in their new low rise apartment!

The next week he waded in to a pond that was being dredged, in his underwear to rescue a koi carp that was floundering in the shallow water and put it in a near by pond.

It just goes to show not only do we try to preserve trees but wildlife as well!

Happy New Year ! Despite a very cold end to 2010 , we managed to carry on working with only one day off.  At the end of December we had quite a large tree

that was quite dangerous to came down, our wok is quite varied, the boys were hedging cutting in minus 8 degrees during the snowy weather!

So far 2011 weather has not been kind, a wet start to the working New Year. Still managing to keep busy, hopefully we will update our gallery soon with some interesting work photos.

This week has sadly seen some of the largest Elms in the area having  10 infected branches removed in  the hopes that this will save them. These trees were at Charleston Manor, unfortunately 3 large Elm trees had to be felled at Alciston as we could not save them because they were too close to electric cables to work on.

Also this week a large Horse Chestnut tree had to come down at Alciston , Court Farm for Firle Estate.

The Elms are majestic sight on the South Downs , hopefully the work we do will help to save them, along with all the big native trees in the area, which make our countryside unique.

On the 9th of August the film crew of News night filmed Michael at work taking down a Elm tree which had dutch Elm disease. It was to highlight the problem of controlling this disease in the South Downs Conservation area.

The film crew even put a camera in a tree while it was being felled and the tractor all very exciting, was meant to be shown last week as yet still not been on, more important events have taken over I expect, will keep News night on Sky + for the moment !

Another  tree  caused a bit of a Buzz, when Michael dropped a branch down to the lads which had a large wasp nest still attached ! They were not to happy and  I expect the wasps were a bit put out too !

In Berwick Michael came under fire literally when he burnt up some tree top on the site which had some old ammo in the ground, possibly from WW2. It seems there’s never a dull moment, you never know what you might find next!

Apologies for the long wait in between posts, seem to have had no time for the computer!

Busy still in this tropical weather, the heat brings with it a few problems, hard ground to work on and dust!

Also the Oak trees seem to be developing a  black sticky substance oozing from the bark, it comes apparently when the trees are under stress or dry, but no one seems to no the long term effect. I hope this will not put our lovely Oaks under threat.

We have just had a wonderful Holiday , we came across a unusual tree called a seaside orchid, which had large yellow blooms every morning gradually changing to orange then red, then dropped off by nightfall, only to repeat the whole process the next day it was quite amazing!

All the trees are looking really pretty, I think when the suns out and there is a bit of warmth, it’s my favourite time of year.

The boys are busy thankfully, out working in Seaford today.

Burwash yesterday removing a fallen Pine tree that had come down through the weight of the heavy snow last year, the garden had been to wet to go on until now.

Alf had his first full day out in the van last friday, he loved it! He even had his own lunch box !

The only drawback now is expects to go everyday !

Look out for all the beautiful flowering trees, whitebeam, magnolias, cherry’s and blackthorn lining our roads with it’s bridal white blooms.

Our nightly walks are proving interesting at the moment, we had an encounter with a fox boldly strolling our estate. The last two nights a sweet little hedgehog has been scurrying along the lawns, hope people drive carefully I  enjoy the  surprise of what wild life we might find next !