Most people never think about having a tree inspected until something prompts it — a survey flags it during a house purchase, a storm goes through, a neighbour writes a letter, or a managing agent asks for something in writing.

An inspection is a structured look at the tree by someone who works on trees for a living, ending in a written view of what condition it is in, what risk it presents, and what if anything should be done about it.

Who Actually Needs One

The common reasons in Derby are:

If you own land with trees on it that people can get under, you carry a duty of care towards those people. In practice that duty is discharged by taking reasonable steps — looking at the trees periodically, acting on what you find, and being able to show you did. An inspection record is what “being able to show you did” looks like.

What the Inspection Covers

The work is a visual assessment from the ground, and where it is warranted, from within the crown.

We look at the base and root plate for lifting, cracking, cavities and fungal fruiting bodies; the stem for wounds, included bark, cracks and swellings; the main unions, which is where large limbs most often fail; and the crown for dieback, deadwood, imbalance and previous poor pruning. We also look at what is underneath the tree, because risk is a product of the tree and its target, not the tree alone.

What comes back is a description of what was found, an assessment of what it means, and a recommendation — which is frequently “nothing, look again in three years”.

What an Inspection Cannot Tell You

This is the part that tends to get glossed over, so we will be direct about it.

A visual inspection cannot see inside a stem. A tree can be substantially hollow and still look entirely normal from the outside, and trees do occasionally fail without having shown anything beforehand. Where there is reason to suspect internal decay, that requires decay-detection equipment and a consultant, and if we think you need one we will say so rather than pretending a look from the ground has settled it.

An inspection is also a snapshot. It describes the tree on the day. It does not stop the tree changing, and after a significant storm the sensible thing is to look again.

Nobody can guarantee a tree will not fail. What an inspection does is put you in the position of having taken reasonable, documented care — which is the standard that actually applies.

Why We Would Rather Someone Independent Told You

There is an obvious conflict in a tree surgeon inspecting a tree and then quoting for the work they have just recommended, and it is worth naming it.

We handle it by keeping the recommendation and the quote separate, and by being willing to write “no work required”, which is the most common outcome. If you would rather have a fully independent consultant — and for a contested boundary dispute or a formal legal matter you probably should — that is a reasonable thing to want and we will not be offended by it.

What we will not do is find work in a tree that does not need any.

How Often Is Often Enough?

For an ordinary garden tree in reasonable condition with nothing much underneath it, a look every few years is proportionate. There is no requirement to have a mature tree surveyed annually because it is large.

What changes the interval is the target and the tree’s condition. A tree over a public footpath, a school playground or a busy car park warrants a shorter cycle than one at the bottom of a garden. A tree with a known defect being monitored warrants a shorter cycle still. And any tree that has visibly changed — a limb gone, a lean appeared, the crown thinned — warrants a look now rather than on schedule.

Herring Trees & Landscaping — Tree Inspections in Derby

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