Following an arb team into a conifer woodland in Hertfordshire where care and conservation is on the agenda. 

ASKED what an arborist does for a living, the general public will almost certainly say back-garden work such as trimming fast-growing Leyland cypress hedges, removing diseased white-flowering horse chestnut trees or occasionally reducing full-grown trees which have got too big for their boots.

They might also suggest municipal tree work, such as the dead-wooding of oak trees in parks and on golf courses, and the pollarding of roadside lime (Tilia) trees. Such tasks may well be the bread and butter of the country’s thousands of arborists, but these tree care and management specialists can also be found working in the forest. Not doing forestry (which implies felling and extracting timber for milling, biomass or firewood and subsequent sale) but carrying out care and conservation of trees for the overall benefit of the environment.

CONSERVATION IN THE FOREST

Forestry Journal:

In early June I was invited to cover one such job, which turned out to be full of surprises.

It was a mature conifer forest environment, located not in Wales or Scotland, but in mid-Hertfordshire, just 10 miles north of the county boundary with London. 

Arborcare Tree Surgery and Landscape Management, based at Todd’s Green near Stevenage in Hertfordshire, was the company carrying out the work and I was taken on site by the operations manager Adam Pike. On the way, Adam described the unusual nature of the site, almost unique for this part of Hertfordshire, and told how it was a privilege to be working there. On arrival, I understood exactly what he meant. If I had been parachuted into the plantation without any inkling of where it was, I would have said the Surrey Hills, with mid-Hertfordshire the last place on my mind.

This mature conifer plantation was comprised of mainly pine (mostly Austrian with some Corsican and Scots pine) but also with a substantial sprinkling of Norway spruce. The original owners obviously had timber in mind. The trees had clearly been planted as such, in both pattern and spacing, some 30 to 40 years ago. It was unclear whether any purposeful thinning had taken place or whether weather-related events had performed natural thinning, as occurred recently at the hands of a series of storms.

It would appear planting took place in the 1980s, apparently before the infamous Lawson budget of 1988, which took away tax incentives for private investors in forestry. It is still recognised as having delivered the death knell to future commercial conifer planting and management – a blow from which the industry has yet to recover, at least in England and Wales. 

Some four decades later, there is timber for the taking, but a lot has clearly happened since the bare-rooted pine and spruce seedlings were put into the ground. Ownership has changed, with timber the last thing on the minds of the present owners. They want to maintain the woodland for its aesthetic and conservation value and this is precisely why Arborcare was contracted to do the work, and why Adam and his team of four were on site that day in June. 

Forestry Journal: Conifer plantations like this one are an increasingly rare sight in the southern half of Hertfordshire.Conifer plantations like this one are an increasingly rare sight in the southern half of Hertfordshire. (Image: FJ)

Adam told essentialARB how the original plan had been to carry out measured thinning to allow more light into the woodland, and to remove the bramble, nettle and holly seedling undergrowth, which proved to be substantial for an essentially intact, mature stand of evergreen conifers. Another objective was to reseed the cleared ground, initially with a grass mixture and perhaps later with a selected wildflower mix, depending on the results of the grass re-seeding operation. 

In the event, nature performed the tree thinning for them, with February’s storms bringing down enough trees – and evenly across the woodland area – to sufficiently illuminate the woodland according to the owners’ requirements. And the owners have another reason for clearing the undergrowth, which commercial foresters may think as strange, but which makes sense to me, knowing exactly what their woodland management motives were. 

The owners’ house is close to the woodland. They own a pair of large dogs, which regularly chase and presumably terrify the Muntjac deer population in the woodland, where reasonably dense bramble undergrowth provides good cover for this relatively small species. Adam said that with the ground cover gone, the deer would probably transfer to ancient, broadleaf woodland nearby, which is under the same ownership. This would certainly save the diminutive Muntjac from the jaws of these large canines, but the broadleaf woodland may well suffer as a consequence, especially if there is a lot of tree seedling regen inside.

Be that as it may, the work was already well underway. Adam showed me the neatly stacked piles of sawn conifer logs from the cutting operation carried out by his team on the windblown trees using the company’s Stihl 362 groundwork chainsaws. The logs appeared to be of good quality, so I asked whether any realisation of timber value had ever come into the discussions. 

“The client was adamant about leaving the logs in situ as ‘habitat piles’ as a core part of the overall conservation aims of the operation,” said Adam. There were some habitat piles which had clearly been established some years earlier, around which were thriving populations of foxgloves. 

Forestry Journal: Some fine-looking foxgloves were established around habitat piles stacked some years before.Some fine-looking foxgloves were established around habitat piles stacked some years before.

The undergrowth was substantial, especially for a mature conifer plantation. Brambles and nettles were predominant, but there was also a preponderance of seedling regen holly, despite there being no berry-bearing English holly trees in the immediate vicinity (not that this is unusual). This is almost certainly because redwings, which are berry-eating winter migrant visitors of the thrush family from Scandinavia, seen in large numbers in this part of Hertfordshire during the winter months, are becoming increasingly important agents in sowing the seeds of English holly in woodlands across southern England. I have observed this phenomenon on several occasions in mixed broadleaf woodland which includes mature, berry-bearing, female English holly trees within its tree composition. These seeds are clearly being brought in from outside and one can only speculate that this winter migrant from Scandinavia feels very much at home in this pure conifer woodland in Hertfordshire. 

An Avant 635 loader with a flail attachment was used to cut down the undergrowth. The beauty of this compact piece of machinery and amazing bit of kit is its ability to be manoeuvred in between large trees. In this context it was skilfully operated by Michael Cafferkey, making short work of the brambles, nettles and seedling holly. 
The Avant 635 is described as the real all-rounder in the Avant range, combining power, lift capacity and professional spec hydraulics in a very compact package. As such, the Avant 635 series is a very popular machine with professionals in arboriculture, landscaping, ground care and farming. 

Michael told essentialARB how he has been with Arborcare for six years, having trained in-house with day-release study at Kingsworth Training Services, just south of Sevenoaks in Kent, and Shuttleworth College near Bedford in the county of Bedfordshire. There he gained tickets for chainsaw maintenance, cross cutting and small tree felling, and safe use of a chainsaw from a rope and harness in the tree. Michael is clearly a qualified climber but said he was happy for a short-term change with his feet on the ground instead of many metres up an oak.

I next met with Simon Gaitan, who has been with Arborcare for just five months, having previously worked in the construction industry, including on some very large civil engineering projects like the Luton Dart Project, a cable rail connection between Luton airport and the town’s railway station. Simon told how he finds the variety of arb work in the fresh air a refreshing experience compared with construction work. He aims to get into tree climbing, with training in aerial rescue scheduled for September, on his way to becoming a fully trained and ticketed climber. Like Michael Cafferkey, Simon Gaitan is a member of Arborcare’s four teams engaged in tree work.

READ MORE: Royal Forestry Society reveals Excellence in Forestry Award winners

Simon was strimming around the trees where the Avant 635 had passed, using a Stihl FS 410 C brush cutter. Despite the ability of the Avant 635 to be operated safely and effectively in and around trees, care must clearly be taken not to go too close, especially when working in conifer plantations with trees which tend to flare at the collar. Adam told essentialARB how they generally mix their own two-stroke fuel except for landscaping where team members are close to the exhaust, and in which case custom-made fuels are bought in.

Also on site were two guys from Arborcare’s three landscaping teams, who were carrying out the final re-seeding operation using EG22 (Emorsgate General Grass mix). EG22 contains finer bent and fescue grasses, plus some dwarf perennial ryegrass and smooth-stalked meadow-grass. Both men had come into arb from completely different backgrounds. Colin Hardy, who has 10 years with Arborcare, came in from a farming background, while Dean Gray, working for Arborcare for seven months, hailed from a background in retail. Adam commented on how he finds temperate trees a lot easier and more pleasant to deal with than shoppers.

CHOICES – CUTTING FOR TIMBER OR CONSERVATION

Forestry Journal:

There was clearly potential for cut timber in this plantation, but the owners opted for care and maintenance to preserve the status quo for conservation and biodiversity. In my mind, that’s the best thing for this almost pure conifer woodland, the like of which is becoming increasingly rare in the county of Hertfordshire. 

The practice of saving woodland for historical, aesthetic and ecological reasons is normally restricted to ancient semi-natural broadleaves, but I would argue this particular woodland, given its Hertfordshire location, is just as valuable and well worth saving.

Indeed, the number of woodlands in Hertfordshire which carry the word ‘fir’ or ‘firs’ in the name is indicative of how conifer-rich woodland was once ubiquitous, and not a rarity as it is today. That said, there appears to have been a tradition going back centuries in this corner of England to label all classic, woody-cone-bearing conifers as fir trees, when in fact these long-gone woodlands would almost certainly have been Scots pine.  

Even if the owners had wanted to clearfell the woodland for timber, the felling licence would have required the area to be replanted with broadleaves – and certainly not with Norway spruce, now that Ips typographus (larger eight-toothed European spruce bark beetle) is stalking south-east England. The Forestry Commission has indicated it wants to make this entire area of England a ‘spruce-free’ zone over the next 10 years to prevent this highly damaging pest reaching the vast swathes of spruce trees in northern England and Scotland.

In terms of conservation – specifically biodiversity and butterflies – it may be worthwhile for the woodland’s owners to leave discrete areas of nettles and brambles in place. The general view of stinging nettle is preoccupied with the plant’s invasive nature as 
well as the unpleasant sting delivered by the urticating trichomes (hairs) on the leaves.

Not for nothing is the scientific name of the stinging nettle Urtica dioica. But the butterfly plus points can outweigh these considerations as nettles are the food plants for the larvae of some of our most common and colourful native butterflies including comma, peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral and painted lady. 

Similarly, the even-more-invasive and equally unpleasant bramble is an important source of nectar for adult brimstone and speckled wood butterflies. A number of speckled wood butterflies were seen on the wing, almost certainly attracted by both the rich grass swards already established along the rides (various grasses are food plants for the larvae) as well as bramble flowers, which by early June were already in abundance. Even holly has a role as food plant for the first spring generation for larvae of the holly blue butterfly.

ARBORCARE ON THE STUMP

Forestry Journal:

Arborcare has featured in essentialARB on a number of occasions, the first more than 10 years ago, and I was interested to learn how the company had developed over this period – especially its experiences during and after lockdown. 

Arborcare has always had a wide spectrum of clients including local authorities, private commercial companies and residential clients. 

“We currently serve our clientele with four tree-work teams and three landscaping teams, out on the stump five days a week,” said Adam, adding how the company currently has 24 employees on the books (Arborcare is split into two companies which work side by side – the tree-work teams under Arborcare and the landscapers under EMG or Environmental Management Group).

However, like much of British industry Arborcare is currently finding it harder to identify and hire good staff. Adam told how (at the time of writing) the company had openings for a lead climber, a lead landscaper, two maintenance guys or gals and two labourers.

“The company is very aware of current steep rises in the cost of living and we are trying the best we can to help our employees,”he said. 

The core of the company’s work is with district and borough councils in Hertfordshire. Arborcare is the principal and sole contractor for Dacorum Borough Council and has framework agreements with North Herts Council and St. Albans City and District Council.

These involve lots of arb contractors with work distributed according to a tier system. 
Adam added: “Following the end of lockdown we received a lot more enquiries for residential work, although this appears to be slowing down as the cost-of-living increases bite.”

Arborcare became ARB Approved during lockdown while maintaining its long-held CHAS accreditation.