Today's Posts

In view of recent developments regarding the shooting, maybe not tragically. but the fact remains if not for yet another deluded, indoctrinated nutjob, he would not have been required to even raise his gun, or even be there. the decisions he made may well have saved many lives, I'm sure he will be deeply sorry it was not at least one more.

I said there was a story behind this picture The heath is a remnant of a larger common that has mostly become developed as the commuter town of Woking was built up. This part to the north of the town is a large open space of over 800 acres. Grazing had largely ceased in Victorian times but it remained a "blasted heath" because of it's sandy soil with leached out fertility. When I was a boy the military still had a lease on the land from WW2 and their antics plus hordes of recreational horse riders and the occasional wild fire had kept it largely devoid of trees. From 1974 I had fallen into forestry work and was an avid member of RFS. At one meeting on Wisley and Chatley heath commons the forester for SCC (the owners there) told us that he was planting up that heath with mostly lodgepole pine. Now by then I had planted lodgepole pine and never seen any that looked likely to produce decent timber, I was also aware that heath, which is mainly man made by over grazing, was becoming a rare habitat. So I spoke up that it should be maintained as heath and not afforested, I was told that was ridiculous and as a major timber importer it was important to have our own timber production. It got planted both sides of the then single carriageway A3 with separated the two blocks, lodgepole and Tsuga to the north . Now 50 years later the A3 dual carriageway is widened to 8 lanes and a green heathland bridge has been erected to link the two heaths, the planted trees have been long gone (and all that planting grant money wasted) as the Thames Basin Heaths project has taken off to preserve heath. Having lost my forestry trainee job after a house move I went back to learn a bit more about dairy farming and volunteered on a decrepit farm with a 72 year old chap and his herdsmen, about this time I met @Deafhead. The farm was bought and subsequently developed into a golf course. By then I had been head hunted by a new IH dealership as a tractor salesman. Here I tinkered with tractors, met a number of local farmers, one the grandfather of a garrulous member here who politely told me not to return, and gradually twigged not only was I a useless salesman but the business was only a front for getting the owner's money out of Zimbabwe. I was sacked. I went back to climbing for one of the major local tree firms, the boss was good but wages and conditions poor so that didn't last, I moved into managing another smaller firm with just two gangs. The owner, a chap of about 40 on his second or third marriage , his manager have run off with his previous wife, came in one morning to complain that his new wife wasn't happy with me and that I had berated an employee for having sharpened his saw below the rakers. Given the ultimatum to apologise or go I was off. I bought some birch for turnery poles and with a college mate we went into the timber felling business. Now to the gist of the story, while a tractor salesman I had met a printer who ran a small holding with liveries and was the part time manager of this common to the north of Woking. Since the army had left 15 years earlier a large number of self seeded scots pine had taken advantage of the nitrogen from car exhausts and coupled with the aid of mycorrhizal fungi extracting potassium and phosphorus from the grains of silica the whole place was becoming a low yield secondary woodland. The bit in the photo was still heath with little to no bracken but the area just beyond was thicket stage pine. Again the proposal was to plough and plant , corsican pine this time. I approached the new owners and suggested this was a bad thing, I still have the wordy letter I sent to explain. I bought some birch thinning from them and worked for them, on a self funding basis for 30 years. Then came the drought of 76 and the wildfire that burned a hundred or more acres, devastated the reptile and probably ground nesting bird population but killed the trees. After looking at the eyesore of standing dead trees the owners agreed to let me clear the land. I worked with a sawmill tidying up after their big hardwood fellers had taken the timber and , for speed as we were often on shooting estates, burned all the small roundwood and tops. So I got the chap that did this with his Cat 977 to rake up and burn the scorched trees, the mound of ash is still there as a clump of gorse. The heahter is good but over mature now and could do with swaling blocks. I think the disturbance of the soil profile was a bad thing, but I was young. The area largely returned as heather in the bit we raked but the potassium from burned trees mean that bracken started encroaching from one roadside. If left un managed it will out compete the heather and take over, much as it has on the Wisley common. A management problem is that all these Thames Basin Heaths have upgrades from SSSIs to SPAs in the 90s, which makes management stupidly restrictive, to the benefit of bracken and the overall loss of heather. The bit where the tractor is working was never heavily treed but was becoming so, it was a wet area in winter with a large number of informal borrow pits. These are difficult to work and have been mostly left to develop as secondary woodland, pine, birch aspen and willow. For some dubious reason rather than cut and carry off the over growth on the machine manageable areas the decision was made to screef off the surface. The arisings were dumped in a field that had developed from 1972 to wood pasture with glorious displays of orchds and that was the end of them. The screefed area is what you see some 10 years later where he exposed layer favoured gorse, finally, where the mower and baler could get, they are taking off the arisings. Over time this lowered surface fertility should favour heather ( ling, crossleaved and bell) as long as bracken is controlled. Strips of gorse have developed alongside paths throughout as the roots partake of phosphorus from dog crap.

nope, not rick parfitt.

Ring got forced back into the groove about 1/2 mm, I was surprised there was enough depth in the groove for that to happen.

Plantations small or not small used to strim them, any varient of weedkiller will be poisionus to animals and can potentially get passed down , best thing is mechanical its only grass

What would you call the basics?

I don’t remember seeing one. Only recall loads of ladybirds, biting and a surfeit of greenflies often getting into the potato salad - couldn’t tell the difference between them and chopped parsley 🤣

No I’ve not been Andy Im just actually popping down to see him now, vessel he’s on is in Aberdeen sheltering for Storm Amy coming in. I think anyone but more likely it will be tourists, accommodation he is building is spot on.

Cocked up line four.🤔 Wordle 1,567 5/6* 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟩🟨🟨 🟩⬜🟩🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Morning all, Heading north for a week to see daughter and her in laws. Wonder what the weather will bring.

I work for a hire company, we have run 860i's for the last 3 years or so. Not had any of the above issues. Did have some dashboard water ingress issues, but I think they were caused by over zealous wash bay lads pressure washing the dashboard at close range. The new 635's we have had some issues with fan belts snapping. I personally really rate the avants for what they are, yes the plastics are brittle but they seriously punch above their weight.

You can't ring for an appointment any more at our surgery . It all has to be done on line now . People kicked against it initially but it seems to be working smoothly now .

Stihl released the 500i six years ago. They're the bollocks. Why aren't more saws injected by now?

Did you rate it as a grinder though Josh? Pretty sure that’s the one Ross White had, and thought it was mentally good, possibly too good for the size/weight. Like an animal 8” chipper that weighed 400kg.

I got let down last minute and am looking for someone with up to date (passed or refreshed within last 5 years) felling certificate (small trees is enough) and valid 1st aid+f. Job is in Cumbria, Duddon Valley starting on Monday 6th of October for 2 weeks. It's felling and processing Larch trees for future milling and peeling on site. Message me for details. Thanks Peter

Job opportunity. We are a tree surgery firm based just outside Westerham in Kent. We are looking for the right person to join our small but fast growing company. Please see details of the role below: Location: Westerham , Kent Qualifications: Must have CS30 / 31. Cs 38/39 would be a bonus. Requirements/Experience: - Must have a full, clean driving license - Good team player - Professional Hours: - Monday to Friday, 8-4 plus travel. If this sounds like you, then please get in touch for an informal chat with Archie on 07786884924. https://www.facebook.com/apftreesandgardens/

I want to get out to German/Austria to find climbing work before cutting season ends. I have all kit an necessary tickets plus 10 years experience.. any suggestions or contacts for companies to approach would be much appreciated.. TIA

They're pretty simple machines. Mine jammed up the other day when a fork went through it but the overrun clutch on the PTO shaft saved the day. The product is fiddly to burn but you can really fill a stove up and it goes for a long time. It gets choked up on brash but it's a decent way of reducing bulk if you don't have a chipper

Dozens of Bala sheep deaths trigger toxic acorn warning WWW.BBC.CO.UK Thirty four sheep, worth £5,000, have died on Geraint Davies' farm - after a bumper year for acorns.

Tried a pair of these on in store felt pretty good. Can anyone vouch for their long term comfort, any good with spikes? Any good for hiking as well- I know they’re stiff and a bit heavy Cheers

A nice bag of ArbSurplus rope ends, most appear to be around 5m. Pair of saw lanyards, decent quality, made in UK.

Cheers for them answers. I hadn't thought about roadsise to be honest Mark, I might get away with that in spring when tree work's quiet. Thanks for the tip about Chainsaw Bars UK too, I get most of my milling kit that way but since Brexit I pay big import duties on it. He's got a load of Manpa stuff too I've seen which might be useful. I would probably be able to justify the expense if I knew I could sell some work off the back of it. Carving more would be a good start. Cheers again for your help, I probably will give you a shout Mark next time I'm over visiting.

I do my research, Mick.