Real jobs from across Mid Sussex, photographed on the day: what the tree needed, what we did, and how it looked when we left.
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Hassocks
A really enjoyable day bringing these yews back into shape. They’d been left too long, so some parts needed a harder cut than we’d usually make, but they’ll fill back in, and we’ll be keeping them in shape from here.
Patcham, Brighton
One of seven trees we took out of this garden in Patcham in a single day, with the stumps ground out afterwards.
Hassocks
It took a lot of very small pruning cuts to thin and reduce this tree properly, but we’re very happy with the result.
Haywards Heath
This oak is protected by a Tree Preservation Order, and it had been very heavily cut back about eight years ago. We thinned out the regrowth and reduced back what was left, rather than cutting it hard again.
Hassocks
Another climb for a returning customer, who asked for as much to come off as possible. We can only cut back to the growth points the tree has and still leave enough for it to recover, and this is the result.
Haywards Heath
This robinia had to come down, for reasons the photos make fairly obvious. The customers put all the wood chip to use on paths in their own woodland and kept the timber to split for logs, as robinia burns very hot.
Burgess Hill
A 2-metre reduction of an oak behind these houses, done in horrible weather on the first day and finished in the sun on the second.
Hassocks
Work for Hassocks Parish Council at Adastra Hall. An ivy-covered sycamore was leaning over the roof of the hall, so Cameron took it down with a digger and tree shear, keeping it under control the whole time. We then cut back the overhanging yew and cleared the ivy along the boundary above the path behind the hall.
Hassocks
A very tall oak with long, leggy branches and a lot of phone lines running underneath it. We reduced the crown back while working around the lines.
Cuckfield
A big job at a period property in Cuckfield: a very large macrocarpa and two smaller ones taken out of the driveway, piece by piece, as they overhung the road, the house, a garage and an oil tank. We also removed a tall twin-stemmed cypress crowding a lovely old yew at the front, then reshaped the yew and cleared its ivy.
Henfield
An oak reduction in Henfield. The tree had been very heavily reduced in the past, probably because of rot, and now needs regular maintenance to keep it at a manageable size.
Lindfield
A very wet day in Lindfield bringing these garden hedges back into shape. Before and after.
Burgess Hill
A yew clipped into a teardrop shape one morning in Burgess Hill, using a battery hedge cutter.
Cuckfield
Just a small one from a very wet day in Cuckfield: an ornamental pear clipped back into a neat dome. When one comes out looking this good, you forget about the rain.
Burgess Hill
A line of cypresses had to go after their roots completely blocked the drain. The ground is now clear, ready to replant with something less invasive and easier to manage.
Cuckfield
Reshaping and tidying a mammoth of a conifer: not tall, but very long. Both sides and the top cut back to a clean, tight shape.
Haywards Heath
Before and after: a 25% crown reduction, taking the tree back from the building, for the agents who manage the property.
Hassocks
We’ve looked after the trees at this school for five years, and this oak had been getting steadily worse. After climbing it in February to take out deadwood and inspecting it from the canopy, we decided it was time for it to come down, especially standing so close to the school’s spire.
Keymer
A conifer reduction with a view, beside the windmill at Keymer. A limb had failed and broken the roof of the mill’s listed garage, so we reduced the tree to stop it happening again. It might help get the wind to the sails too.
Haywards Heath
A small birch removal in the grounds of a block of flats, for the agents who manage the property.
Burgess Hill
A quick afternoon tidy of this thuja, its first trim in three years. Before and after.
Haywards Heath
Four yew trees reduced down to 9ft to make a hedge rather than trees, plus a conifer taken back to its old reduction points and a tassel bush reshaped and thinned. Two of us had it all done in a day and a half.
Burgess Hill
A couple of smaller jobs in Burgess Hill: removing a larch in a conservation area, with the council paperwork handled by us, plus a cypress removal and an olive reduction.
Henfield
A willow reduction in Henfield. A hard climb, as the tree had grown a long way out past its old pollard points.
Burgess Hill
A cherry tree removed, and an overgrown laurel and hawthorn cut back level.
Burgess Hill
Digging out the old ground with a mini digger and laying 95 metres of new turf for a garden in Burgess Hill.
Burgess Hill
Landscaping for one of our longest-standing customers, who wanted to reuse some old York stone. We laid it into a new patio with a brick surround, in keeping with her cottage garden.
Burgess Hill
Bank holiday reductions: 50% off this roadside conifer, reduced and reshaped to a far more manageable size.
Brighton
A beech reduction in Brighton. A nice straightforward one for a change: the tree stood right by the road, so no long drag of branches through the garden.
Hassocks
A couple of very slippery climbs over two days, reducing a sycamore and a beech.
Burgess Hill
A big oak reduction: 3.5 metres taken off the crown, leaving as much growth on the tree as possible.
Hassocks
Climbing for another local tree surgery firm: reducing these conifers to let more light into the property and to lower the risk of them failing, as they grow on a stream bank.
Burgess Hill
A big oak among the houses, reduced from start to finish.
Haywards Heath
Six birch trees, all infected with birch polypore (Fomitopsis betulina), a fungus that makes the wood very brittle. We took them down using four anchor points; next time we’d bring in a cherry picker (MEWP) instead.
Hove
A 3.5-metre reduction of an elm in Hove. Roadside trees are always tricky, but with the pavement and lane coned off the work went safely.
Haywards Heath
Just a small apple tree today, reduced and pruned. Before and after.
Hassocks
Working at a school near Hassocks where we look after the trees. An English oak (Quercus robur) with Ganoderma was taken down to a monolith, all rigged down safely over a road and bridle path, with a brick wall just 1.5 metres from the base.
Lindfield
A fair lump in Lindfield: the trunk of this one measured 5ft across at its widest point.
Burgess Hill
This oak had been cut back very harshly in the past, so this time we reduced the canopy while leaving as much growth as possible, and removed all the old stubs left behind.
Burgess Hill
A one-third reduction, all back to growth points. The tree was growing over the neighbours’ property and they were having an extension built. Reducing it kept the tree in the garden, when otherwise it would have been too big and too close to the building work.
Hurstpierpoint
A line of conifers taken out along the garden wall, with every stump ground out below the surface so the border is ready to replant with something less intrusive.
Burgess Hill
One of our lightest reductions: 1 metre off the canopy, with the branches cut back to 3 metres from the buildings.
Cuckfield
A smaller job, still done properly: 8 inches off the top of the beech hedge, plus a reduction and thin of the acer, which had only ever been pruned with pole loppers.
Haywards Heath
This oak was in decline from canker, with brown rot where lower limbs had been flush-cut in the past. We wrote a professional tree report for our client, then carried out the removal. The tree was on the ground by 1pm on day one; the rest of the two and a half days went on sawing and carting the timber away, as no vehicle could get close enough to collect it.
Horsted Keynes
An apple tree reduction, and probably one of the oldest and widest-spreading apple trees we’ve had the pleasure of pruning.
Burgess Hill
A big eucalyptus removal: two days of heavy dragging and moving timber to clear it all away. It’s a shame to take out a big mature tree, but this one had grown far too large for its space, and removing it has really opened up the garden.
Hassocks
How do you get a result like this? Take your time, make as few cuts as possible, and keep them in the smaller, actively growing wood that can heal and recover.
Hassocks
It’s a long way round this field hedge, and an even longer drag of the cuttings back to the truck. Before and after.
Hassocks
Just a bit off the top of this front hedge, and the pavement can be used again. Before and after.
Haywards Heath
Pollarding this lovely mature willow, with a good view over Haywards Heath from the top.
Horsham
Working for another local tree surgery firm, we dismantled three very large oaks and ground out the stumps. The drop zone was tight, so everything was lowered slowly and safely, and the whole job was done and cleared away in three days.
Burgess Hill
Four bays of old fencing replaced with new close-board fencing and capping.
Burgess Hill
Out with the old crazy paving and in with a new Indian sandstone patio: 28 square metres laid in one day.
Wivelsfield Green
A small Indian sandstone path up to this summer house, with decorative edging all the way round its base.
Cuckfield
This ash had ash dieback and stood within falling distance of a very busy footpath. Rather than fell it completely, we took it down to a 6-metre monolith, left standing as wildlife habitat.
Cuckfield
Four 70-foot Norway spruces removed for a customer in Cuckfield. Two had rot in the base, and two had rot about 30 feet up in their multi-stemmed crowns.
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