Toller Tree Care Ltd

09/11/2025

St Mary's Church in Frome St Quintin had long been obscured by a mass of 26 mature Cypress trees on the north and west perimeter.

We worked closely with St Mary's PCC to come up with a remarkably efficient plan to remove all of the perimeter trees that had long outgrown the location, which detracted from this precious twelfth-century building.

Before any tree work could begin, a lot went on behind the scenes by TTC and the PCC. Conservation area application, faculty approval, confirmation of no felling licence requirement, and fence removal.

We started this work by climbing one tree to make it ready for felling, removing understory vegetation and crown lifting all trees. With George Hyde and his winch tractor, all the trees were on the ground, with the timber separated over the following two days. On the fourth day, Knighton Countryside Management Ltd arrived for the clear-up with their mighty Mus-Max chipper, along with a local landowner, to remove the woodchip. All chipping material was processed in under 3 hours into 3 silage trailers. Leaving the afternoon for the tidy-up.

St Mary's PCC intend to plant a much more suitable native hedge here in the upcoming planting season.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

12/10/2025

With dramatic changes in our rainfall patterns in recent years, Leaky Dams seem to be increasingly popular. Tucked away in parts of the countryside that are seen by few but benefit many. These inconspicuous structures delay the passage of water downstream and reduce the risk of flooding.

We helped with our first Leaky Dam project in 2019 for the Dorset Wildlife Trust in the River Asker. In the following years, we have been in the Mangerton, Wiggle, and the River Char.

In 2025, we have been assisting Yeovil Rivers Community Trust with their River Yeo Catchment Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Project. This project covers a large area, from Batcombe in the south to Galhampton in the north. Work at various sites in the summer completed, and plans to continue through the winter.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

06/10/2025

This rough corner of the play area had 12 stumps hidden within the Ivy. Our task was to remove all stumps, clear Ivy and leave the site ready for grass seeding.

Having multiple attachments for the Vermeer CTX100 removed almost all of the manual labour from this task. One pass with the Klou stump grinder attachment. A switch to the muck grab to clear all surface vegetation, stump grinding arisings, old woochip pile, and to grade the site.

In the winter of 2023/2024, we planted 125 bare-root 90/120cm Beech trees to create a hedge between the play area and the road that you can see next to this work. In 2025, the plants are thriving, and it's good to be back, making further improvements to this community space for Charminster Parish Council.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

05/10/2025

This removal of field Ash trees that have succumbed to Ash dieback was a slick operation. With the combination of a 4x4 vehicle-mounted winch, mini skidsteer and a 3.5T tipping trailer.

All of the trees in the images were felled into the field, timber cut to log-size rings directly into the trailer and delivered to the customer's yard. 3 loads in total. The brash(small branches) was left in the field for the landowner to clear.

The weather and ground conditions deteriorated rapidly in the afternoon, but we just managed to get it all out. The skidsteer, trailer and Landrover had their first dose of mud for the winter 2025/26 season, all pressure washed off at the end of the day and ready to do it again next week.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

04/10/2025

It was a busy 3.5 days for the Etesia Attila 98X ride-on brushcutter mowing Bracken and Bramble for Plantlife: saving wild plants at Ryewater Farm Nature Reserve. Our work area with this machine was about 9 acres of the 38-acre site.

We have been working with Plantlife at this reserve since 2014, and as always, it was great to be back and see the changes to the site.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

17/05/2024

Producing firewood with a processor is an amazingly efficient process. One machine can cut, split and load the final product and be operated by one person. This is how most firewood that is sold gets produced in a very cost-effective way.

These machines have limitations, they work best with long and straight timber up to a diameter of 45cm. For timber that doesn't meet this description, the process gets less efficient.

We dont have a firewood processor and we hardly sell any logs, but . . .

We are equipped to deal with this timber. The Vermeer CTX100 with a Klou corkscrew splitter and the 22-ton petrol-powered log splitter make a mean combination for making big bits of wood into smaller bits of wood.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

17/05/2024

This mature Ash tree was in Lyme Regis on a site owned by The Woodland Trust. It was suffering from the effects of Ash Dieback and also causing damage to the opposite retaining wall by conflicting with the watercourse. The council requested the removal to allow repairs to be made and not cause further damage to infrastructure in the future.

Formulating an efficient plan was a tricky task, with it being over a road and on the other side of the river. The large trunk needed to be removed in line with the river bank. These plans were a long time in the making with a road closure and various organisations to liaise with.

The additional help from E C Shere Contracting Countryside Services with his amazing mini trailer crane that can reach 5m and still lift up to 500kg was the key to unlocking this plan and another successfully completed job.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

08/08/2023

The Landrover has recently been out exploring the tall vegetation at Plantlife: saving wild plants Ryewater reserve. We were carrying out some Bracken bruising throughout the reserve. The machine was kindly hired to us by Dorset Wildlife Trust.

By rolling the stems it causes them to bleed, over time this repeated process will weaken the root system and lead to less Bracken cover in the fields.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

28/06/2023

After this Monterey Cypress failed in the winter we assisted with the timber removal. We returned a few weeks ago with the Vermeer mini skid steer and the Klou stump grinder attachment to get the stump removed and the area looking smart again.

The bucket attachment made light work of clearing the grindings and grading the area.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

02/05/2023

So it's only taken us 11 years to finally get the Ancient Giants film out into the public domain, here for all to see on youtube. The first public screening of the film was in 2019 when we went to Kendal Mountain Festival for it to be played on the big screens.

For those that dont know . . . in 2012 myself, Waldo and Zak set of to Chile in search of the Alerce tree(Fitzroya cupressoides). These are known to be some of the worlds oldest trees, with one in particular, "Gran Abuelo" is estimated to be over 5,480 years old. That's 600 years older than the famous Bristlecone Pine in California!

In this short film we travel to Chile, climb some trees, get lost in the woods and talk about old growth forests. It is lovely to look back on this trip as a film that was at the start of my tree climbing and expedition days.

Enjoy

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

In 2012 I set off with two friends to make a film, in 202 I finally finished it and it did pretty good, so now its here for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.Afte...

01/05/2023

This large Ash was in decline due to the dreaded Ash dieback. Rather than completely removing the tree we climbed and dismantled it down to a large standing monolith. The standing trunk will most likely try to put out growth in the coming years but its days as a tree with a large canopy are over.

To enhance and speed up the future habitat value of this timber we installed a bat box, bird box, large hollow, soil-filled cavity, and artificial cracks in the trunk. This was all done up the tree with a selection of saws and Oak dowels being the only added material.

https://www.tollertreecare.co.uk/

30/03/2022

Unfortunately, this landmark row of West Dorset Beech trees has one less to show for itself. In the last 3 months the tree dropped two sizable limbs, one across the road and another into the field. With the structural integrity of the tree then being compromised it was time to go.

Crusader Traffic assisted us with two way traffic lights and an operator on-site for the day to completely stop all traffic as required. Delays were kept to a minimum but thank you for your patience if you were passing.

You will see that the trunk has been kept as a standing monolith. This will be great habitat and may even manage to put out some more growth over the coming years

http://tollertreecare.co.uk/