Tree trim

So Patrick the tree surgeon came to visit yesterday afternoon, to tidy up the silver birch in the back garden.

This was before:-

He arrived by bicycle, put on a harness, climbed the tree and went a-snipping.  It probably took three times as long to tidy up the branches he removed than it did to do the original lopping.

There was a conversation about 'lifting the branches', 'balancing the tree' and 'leaving the crown untouched'.  Which I didn't really understand.

 A couple of times he descended to check the resulting shape.

And then it was all over, the garden had been cleared up and he'd gone.  The result is rather like a neat haircut:-

As he left on his bike, he explained that it was a young tree - only twenty-two years old, and would probably double in height and girth in the next ten years!

It shouldn't need any more work for another seven to ten years...