How I ended up in the top of a tree

Getting into it

I started out labouring for a tree crew, dragging brash to the chipper and learning the job from the ground up. Watching the climbers work, I knew within a week that was what I wanted to be doing. I worked my way up to climbing, and I've been doing it ever since.

Five years in Australia

Most of my climbing years were in Australia, mainly domestic work: awkward back-garden trees, a lot of storm work, and crane jobs on trees too big to bring down any other way.

One that stays with me: a eucalyptus that had come down in a storm and was hung up in the tree next to it, directly above a big shed. Getting that out meant rigging every section so it swung clear of the roof before it came down. Nothing touched the shed.

The crane work taught me the most. Watching a branch the size of a car get cut, swing away and lift out over the house is a good lesson in what careful planning looks like.

Coming back to Somerset

Australian work was about size and big machinery. Here it's mostly pruning and reductions, keeping trees healthy and the right shape for the garden they're in. That's a different problem and, I think, a more interesting one. Where the cut goes matters more than how big the saw is.

How I work now

I work on my own and bring in a second pair of hands when a job needs it. Everything I do follows BS 3998:2010, the British Standard for tree work. I'd rather keep a tree than remove it, and I'll tell you if I think yours should be left alone.