Are you Arb enough?

Another Monday morning was upon me.  Unlike most Mondays, I was particularly excited about this one as I was spending the day with the Arboriculture team down at RHS, Wisley.

For anyone who is involved in the industry, RHS Wisley is a real gem and a place of great horticultural excellence, so for an opportunity to spend time there was a great privilege. 

I arrived to a predominantly empty car park at 07:15.  The trouble with Wisley is that it resides just off the M25, so in order to avoid the apocalyptic congestion, it is best to get there early.

I had arranged to meet at 09:30, so I had two hours to kill.  I never realised that there were so many public bridleways surrounding the area so I took it upon myself to go for a walk, which ended up turning into a bit of a hike.

It was a glorious morning.  The crisp, glistening frost gleamed from the morning sun.  The air felt fresh and pure, revitalising the body, the birds ecstatically singing their little hearts out.  It felt wonderful to be alive.

I would truly recommend to anyone visiting Wisley to go divert and go for a little adventure.

The time was rapidly approaching 09:30 so I had to hastily make my way back.  I met with Nick Bell, who is head of the Arboriculture team.  Nick came across as a very knowledgable arborist and made me feel part of the team right from the start.

Before commencing work, I had to go through the tedium of health and safety and risk assessments.  Arboriculture can be a dangerous game, so it is of the upmost importance to follow the procedures set for Arboriculture.

Once this was completed, we could then go out and do some work.  Nick and I met with the team and joined them at Battleston Hill where three Alders had been felled.  This was performed in order to create more light for the ground so that some of the plants and shrubs have an increased chance of establishing themselves.

The trees were required to be chopped up for logging, collected together and then taken to the yard to be used for firewood.

It is important to not rush arboriculture work as this is when accidents happen.  For the sake of trying to finish a job half an hour earlier, it could cost you tomorrow.  Therefore, the Alder task took up most of the day.

However, once the task was completed, it was time to get to the workshop and clean and sharpened the chainsaws ready for tomorrow’s work.  It was a day of putting my CS30 Cross-cutting and Chainsaw Maintenance certificate in to practice, and I loved it.

The day soon come to an end, but it was fantastic and Nick would like me to come back each month, an important contact made there.

Working with trees can indeed be a tough game, you need to be hard-working, highly skilled, physically fit, have a beard and about 2L of testosterone a day.  However, after all the back-breaking work, you step back and realise it is an honour to be involved with the management and maintenance of these gentle, majestic giants of the Earth.