• Trading as Glasgow's tree surgery specialists since 2005
• All work carried out to British Standard BS3998 for tree work
• Fully insured, NPTC/Lantra-qualified team

A call to Hawksland usually starts with one of three things: a tree that's come down or leaned over after wind, a hedge that's finally had its boundary encroachment noticed after years of being left, or a stump from work done long ago that's now in the way of a resurfaced drive or a new fence line. Glasgow Trees has traded as Glasgow's tree surgery specialists since 2005 and takes calls like these across Hawksland and the wider Clyde Valley round - Lanark, Kirkmuirhill, Larkhall, Law, Carluke, Crossford, Dalserf, Lesmahagow, Nemphlar, Rosebank, Boghead and Braidwood among them. The first conversation happens by phone; what follows, where the job needs it, is a site visit and a free, no-obligation quote before anything is booked in.

What that site visit actually finds varies more around Hawksland than in the valley towns closer to the Clyde itself. The settlement sits south of Lesmahagow on higher, more exposed ground above the valley floor rather than down on the river haughs, close to the Nethan Water - a Clyde tributary running through the sandstone country around Crossford and, further downstream, Craignethan Castle. Less of the fruit orchard planting the lower valley is known for grows up here; the mix runs instead to ash, sycamore and alder on the wetter ground near the burns, with sitka spruce and larch put in as windbreaks along the more open fields. The soil underneath is heavier too, a clay-based till rather than the free-draining river silt further down the valley - a difference that shows up in how a job actually runs, from how long a stump takes to break down if it's left alone to how a laden trailer or an excavator crosses a field without cutting it to pieces.

• Felling and removal of trees, including ones that are storm-damaged, leaning or already resting against something after high wind.
• Pruning and hedge cutting or shaping, priced to the size of the tree or hedge rather than a flat rate.
• Stump grinding and removal, whether the original tree was felled by Glasgow Trees or by someone else.
• A check for Tree Preservation Order or conservation area status carried out as part of the site visit, before any cutting starts.

• Work found on site that wasn't part of the original quote - a second tree that turns out to need attention, for example - is costed and agreed with you before anything extra is carried out, not added to the job afterwards.
• Tree reports and surveys prepared for a Tree Preservation Order, conservation area consent or planning application are quoted as their own piece of work, separate from the pruning or felling itself.
• Replanting is available if it's wanted, but it's treated as an add-on to a removal or felling job rather than something included automatically.

1. First contact -- A call describes the tree or job - species if known, roughly how big it is, how it's accessed, and whether it's routine work or an emergency such as storm damage or a tree resting on a building or line.
2. Site visit, quote and consent check -- An arborist looks at the tree's health and species and any hazards nearby such as power lines, sheds, boundary walls or greenhouses, flags whether a Tree Preservation Order or conservation area status might apply, and gives a free, no-obligation quote based on what the site actually needs.
3. The work itself -- The crew arrives with whatever the job needs - rope and harness work for a tall or awkward tree, a stump grinder, wood chipper or timber crane - and on a removal, hazardous limbs are taken off before the main trunk comes down, in the order that keeps the site and everyone on it safe.
4. Clear-up and sign-off -- Any extra work spotted once the job is underway is agreed and costed with you first, and the site is left in the state agreed before the crew leaves.

There's no fixed price list for tree work, because the things that move the price - the size and species of the tree, how easy the site is to get equipment into, whether a stump needs ground out as well as the tree removed, how long a hedge run is, and whether the job is routine or an emergency after a storm - vary from one job to the next. A phone call can usually give a general steer and set priority, but a firm, free quote only comes after someone has looked at the tree and the site in person, which is standard practice and offered with no obligation to book.

Not every tree on higher ground needs the same answer. A stand of sitka spruce and larch put in as a windbreak along an open field behaves differently under a chainsaw than a mature ash or sycamore left to grow at the edge of a hedgerow, and a clay-till site holds water differently to the free-draining silt lower down the valley, which changes how roots have developed and how a tree responds to having limbs or a whole crown taken off it. That's the judgement NPTC Professional Tree Inspection qualification is meant to cover - not just spotting a diseased or unstable tree, but working out whether a species suited to Hawksland's heavier ground and greater wind exposure needs felling outright, a hard prune back, or nothing done to it at all beyond keeping an eye on it. That call gets made on site, against the actual tree, rather than from a description of species and rough size given over the phone. Everything that follows from it - felling, pruning, hedge work, a stump ground out afterwards - is carried out by a fully insured team to British Standard BS3998, the same standard whether the tree in question is a windbreak conifer or a garden sycamore, and the same team holds the NPTC/Lantra certificates for rigging, dismantling, aerial rescue and chainsaw work from rope and harness that a species grown up in the open, rather than sheltered lower in the valley, tends to actually need.

Hawksland is covered as part of the stretch of South Lanarkshire reached as a selected area along the M74 corridor, not the whole county, with access off the A72 and A73 back roads from Lesmahagow and Blackwood straightforward enough. Where the round differs from the flatter towns nearer the Clyde - Rosebank, Crossford and Carluke, where the valley's orchard trees are more common - is what a site visit needs to plan for once the M74 is left behind: lanes narrow and fields tilt uphill past the Nethan Water, and a standard van and ladder don't always reach a tree at the far end of a track or across a wet field. That's where the FMO tractor and forwarder trailer come in, for moving kit and cut timber along ground a van won't manage, a 360 excavator and telehandler for stump and site clearance, and a line skidder for hauling felled timber off a slope rather than dragging it across a lawn or a fence line. Which of that gets brought out, if any of it, is worked out at the site visit rather than assumed from an address alone - it's worth a quick call first to confirm a specific Hawksland property is on the round before one is booked.

A leaning tree, a stump left in a lawn or a hedge that's got away all tend to get harder, and sometimes more expensive, to deal with the longer they're left, especially once a tree starts showing signs of instability after a storm. A site visit and quote cost nothing and carry no obligation to book, so there's no downside to getting it looked at now rather than waiting for the next high wind to make the decision instead.

Glasgow Trees
Call 0141-483-7485