College so far

5 weeks in and generally - it's going well. I'm e6njoying learning about the different fungi and diseases of trees, for instance, and we're having to do our own personal guide to trees. I'd started doing this in the summer, taking photos when the leaves were out, and now it's a case of identifying the twigs and buds and putting it all together with photos and my own descriptions into one document. It's great for honing ID skills, actually looking at a sample and writing my own description of the texture, look and smell of foliage, bark or twigs. For instance, I'd never realised just how rowan buds look a bit like hairy beetles, with a "head" and then "wing cases" made out of bud scales. Things like that help them stick in your mind. 


However - some of the aspects of the N.D. are slightly simplistic, although maybe that comes with having university and work experience beforehand. More of problem that I'm finding is that some (but not all, thankfully) students seem interested only in climbing trees and swinging about them with a chainsaw. Knowing the theory is what makes you an arboriculturalist, not just being able to climb and wield a chainsaw up in a tree. Students who aren't even on the arb course are demanding to climb, which then leads to these guys climbing up trees while the actually arboriculture students are being groundies. If you're desperate to climb that much, but don't want to do the theory, then do your CS38/39 short courses and stop taking the place of those who want to learn how to care for trees, not just cut them!


On a more positive note I've had some feedback on some Visual Tree Assessments that I did as a ranger, and the professional surveyor I reported them to was very impressed - I have to thank Klaus Mattheck's wonderful books about VTA for that, but still, it's good to know you're doing it right and picking up on the right symptoms.