A little bit about trees

As living, dynamic organisms, trees present a unique interesting challenge. Providing safety critical cover in trees combines my passions for being in trees and connecting people with nature. Tree climbing is a fantastic activity that involves both body and mind, forming a foundation for learning of many skills useful throughout our lives, something I have written for the Institute of Outdoor Learning. 

Working at height in trees involves problem solving with complex rigging and manoeuvres to make everything run smoothly on the day. Choosing the right tree can be fun too since, as hubs of biodiversity, trees can be full of surprises and you 100% know what you will find. The search for the right tree on some jobs took a little extra time as this year seems to be a good one for bees and whilst great for nature, wild bee colonies don’t make for a good tree to work in! This is where my role as a Tree Safety Expert comes in.

Working with the BBC previously in the ancient pine forests of Glen Affric with presenter Jamie Crawford, it was a delight to be involved in another exciting project for a documentary coming in Spring 2025. Featuring renowned presenter, Professor Jim Al-Khalili, we worked with Furnace TV and cameraman James Aldred to get some gorgeous shots in a dreamy plane tree in Dorset. It was both an honour and a delight to guide Jim way up into the canopy that plane tree.

For the last two years I’ve delivered tree climbing experiences deep in the jungles of Honduras, working with students, scientists and the local community to provide incredible adventures up in the forest canopy. As you can tell, my job is very varied which is great. One day I can be guiding students and scientists up trees in the jungle, then 3 days later I am working with a camera crew in the UK, looking after a single client and keeping them safe to make sure they can deliver their pieces to cameras in the top branches of a tree. Two days after that I’m scaling a mighty radiata pine to gather data on a rare breeding raptors so it’s always interesting!

I’ve been a professional tree climber since 2014. This means that my ‘office’ can be anywhere from 45m up a pine in the cloud forests of Honduras to risk assessments, site visits and in-depth kit inspections indoors. Years of training and experience help inform high levels of safety and all work involves risk assessing and safety procedures, both critical to ensuring the safety of all concerned.

Working with schools and community groups can be the most rewarding, especially those with very limited access to nature. Part of ensuring they have a great time is passing on that passion for trees, showing them how to do a dangerous activity safely with our specialised equipment. Seeing people taking away an understanding of the world up there in the top twigs and the nature around us is pure magic!

Scientific research projects can involving tree climbing here are great with at times highly complex challenges involved in gathering samples, data and installing equipment at height. This also includes doing pre-climb PTI’s or Professional Tree Inspections to assess all aspects of the tree to be scaled in order to make sure it is safe to do so.

Delivering tree climbing training for Canopy Access means you get to see the new generation of tree adventurers and experts coming through and their LANTRA-approved course is full of fab techniques for specially for those involved with film, scientific or exploration projects around the world and needing training to help them climb efficiently and stay safe whilst photographing wildlife, conducting biodiversity surveys or simply having fun at height in the jungle!

I look forward to the next 10 years climbing amazing trees and meeting wonderful new people around the world.